If you do not suffer from a serious skin disorder such as scleroderma—or if you have recently been diagnosed—you may not realize just how much this disease can pose a major risk to good health in ways that extend far beyond “skin deep.”
Indeed, while the skin is the body’s largest organ, it’s easy to trivialize damaged skin as merely cosmetic. Sure, a minor rash or wrinkles may not threaten health, but with scleroderma and other dermatological conditions like it, the disease can affect other organs where it’s not so easy to notice the damage.
That’s because scleroderma is an autoimmune disorder. These are diseases that are caused when the body’s immune system—designed to protect us—mistakenly attacks healthy body tissue. For example, rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks healthy joints, causing pain, inflammation, and swelling.
With scleroderma, the immune system affects the skin. It becomes unusually hard and tight because of an abnormal accumulation of collagen fibers and proteins. This not only makes skin look shiny, but it can also make skin very sensitive as well as cause other symptoms that impact daily life and good health.
Living with scleroderma: Coping with new challenges to health and lifestyle
To see how the impact scleroderma on daily life, consider these scenarios that illustrate different people diagnosed with this disease.
Beth is a 34-year-old fitness enthusiast. She loves outdoor activities, including running, hiking, and playing sports. Unfortunately, her scleroderma causes joint pain and stiffness, along with fatigue, limiting her ability to maintain an exercise routine—and with sensitive skin, makes many outdoor activities very uncomfortable.
At age 51, James once enjoyed an active social life. But scleroderma causes so much fatigue that he isn’t able to attend as many parties and events. And skin discoloration makes him so self-conscious, he doesn’t feel comfortable in public anyway.
And Maria is a 45-year-old parent. She values family time and creating a nurturing home environment. However her scleroderma makes her too tired to maintain that lifestyle, especially when many daily tasks such as cooking are a lot more difficult because of hand and finger stiffness.
As you can see, fatigue, appearance, and pain make everyday life more difficult. But even worse? The same changes seen on the skin can affect the lungs, intestines, kidney, and heart—causing more serious and even life-threatening diseases.
Treating autoimmune diseases: When the body attacks its own cells
As explained above, skin changes in scleroderma are caused by excess deposits of fibrous connective tissue. This is a process known as “sclerosis,” which can occur in other organ systems. This may be why some patients with scleroderma also report symptoms of other autoimmune diseases—such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or Sjogren’s syndrome.
Most standard treatments for scleroderma and other autoimmune diseases include a variety of medications. These include:
- Immunosuppressants: These drugs may be prescribed to suppress the immune system and reduce inflammation. But side effects can include more susceptibility to infections, liver toxicity, and other long-term risks.
- Corticosteroids: Although these medications can control excess inflammation, side effects such as osteoporosis, diabetes, mood changes, can develop—and become even more severe over time.
- Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs): These medications can also be used to ease pain and inflammation. Unfortunately, the side effects that include gastrointestinal issues, increased risk of bleeding, and potential kidney problems can limit long-term use.
There are other types of medications, but all share similar characteristics. They may help relieve symptoms, but they can cause serious side effects.
More importantly, medications can’t regenerate damaged tissue or restore normal immune function.
Complications from scleroderma: More threats to overall health
Scleroderma complications can develop that range from mild to severe. Some of these include:
- Raynaud’s phenomenon that can restrict blood flow and permanently damages the tissue at the fingertips. In some cases, the tissue on the fingertips may die.
- Heart and lung problems that can lead to shortness of breath, dizziness, high blood pressure and even congestive heart failure.
- Kidney complications, especially scleroderma renal crisis, which can result in a sudden increase in blood pressure that can lead to rapid kidney failure.
- Digestive system problems including heartburn, difficulty swallowing, cramps and problems absorbing nutrients from food.
- Joint pain and stiffness when the skin over joints becomes so tight that it restricts flexibility and mobility, especially in the hands.
Because scleroderma can develop into a more serious condition—and standard treatment does not repair body tissue, research into a new treatment approach offers new hope to scleroderma patients,
New advanced stem cell treatments: Based on exciting new research
Based on our own research and from other scientific organizations, a specific type of stem cell, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from umbilical cord tissue, shows great promise in treating patients for many diseases, injuries, and conditions.
While the exact mechanisms are still being researched worldwide, here is an overview of how MSC therapy may work to treat scleroderma:
- Immunomodulation: MSCs may help the body better regulate immune system response, to help reduce inflammation and prevent further damage to affected tissues.
- Anti-inflammatory effects: MSCs promote production of molecules that can suppress inflammation, potentially slowing down or halting the progression of the disease.
- Angiogenesis: MSCs have been shown to promote angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, which may improve blood circulation and alleviate vascular symptoms associated with scleroderma.
- Suppression of fibrosis: MSCs may help suppress fibrosis by modulating the activity of cells responsible for producing collagen, which can potentially prevent or reduce the formation of scar tissue common with scleroderma.
Research continues but stem cells—especially MSCs—represent a new way to treat patients, an alternative to medications based on advanced research. At BioXcellerator, our physicians treat patients with MSCs for a wide range of conditions.
And we take great care to control the production of cells used for treatment. At our on-site lab, we harvest MSCs from donated umbilical cords and then culture and expand these cells in our own lab to assure that patients receive fresh high-quality cells with the best potential to promote healing.
What patients say: New hope for treating autoimmune diseases
At BioXcellerator, we have treated many patients for autoimmune diseases with stem cells. Meet a few of them.
Corrie Elieff was treated for ulcerative colitis. “I already had treatment before this,” he explains, “but stem cells literally handled what the medical industry in Canada and the U.S. said was impossible.” After we treated him, he says that he no longer needs medications and “I’m able to eat what I want again.”
Angel Ramos was treated for multiple sclerosis. After treatment, she reported that “everything was better,” including speech, walking, and vision. She says that treatment was “a total game-changer. Life pre-stem cells to life post-stem cells was totally different. It was amazing!”
John Farrell was treated for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. He says he tried many treatments without much success. Now he says, “I found BioXcellerator and was very fortunate.”
New hope: Discover the potential of stem cells to treat scleroderma
With new stem cell treatments now available, scleroderma patients now have an alternative to medications that may cause side effects, don’t restore immune function, and may not even relieve pain or reduce inflammation.
To learn more about these treatments and how stem cells can help, schedule a discovery call today with one of our experts.
