Thursday, May 24, 2012


Scleroderma en Coup de Sabre

Localized scleroderma is a strange disease, often showing up as a discoloration that looks scar-like, which then evolves into an atrophic plaque, usually in a linear fashion.  In this case, you can see the linear aspect in two areas, one more supraorbital and one more temporal.  

There is an even stranger variant of this (and I gave credit for those of you who made this dx) called Parry Romberg Syndrome, which is linear scleroderma with regression of the underlying tissue, with hemiatrophy of the face.  Even the tongue is hemiatrophic! It is distinguished from Coup de Sabre by the involvement of the complete half of the face, as opposed to just the forehead, as in Coup de Sabre.  

"En coup de sabre" is a French term and means "of the blow of the saber" because it resembles a wound of a foot soldier who survived a blow to the head from a cavalry saber.  


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