What Is CREST Syndrome?

By james

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CREST Syndrome is an autoimmune disease, which means that the patients own immune system is working against them. It affects the patients skin and connective tissues and, thankfully, it is quite rare. Women are affected by it more often than men are, and it usually affects people aged between 10 and 50 years old.

While CREST syndrome can be very uncomfortable, it is not usually dangerous and only those people with the most severe cases will be at risk. Here we provide more information on the condition, along with some of the symptoms that patients can expect to encounter.

1. Scleroderma

CREST is a variety of scleroderma and it is also known as limited scleroderma. Scleroderma is a type of auto-immune disorder, and this means that that your immune system attacks your body as well as helping to protect it against disease. It occurs because our immune system causes the body to produce too much collagen.

Collagen is a substance that helps provide elasticity and moisture to the skin, and losing it with age contributes to the appearance of ageing. With too much collagen in our skin, it becomes thicker and tighter than it usually would be and this, in turn, results in a number of complications.