Dr. Alai is an actively practicing medical and surgical dermatologist in south Orange County, California. She has been a professor of dermatology and family medicine at the University of California, Irvine since 2000. She is U.S. board-certified in dermatology, a 10-year-certified fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology, and Fellow of the American Society of Mohs Surgery.
William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There Dr. Shiel was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.
What is Weber-Christian disease? What are the risk factors for this disease?
Weber-Christian disease is an uncommon inflammatory disease of the fatty tissues of the body. Weber-Christian disease is also referred to as
idiopathic lobular panniculitis (ILP) and relapsing febrile nodular panniculitis syndrome.
The term Weber-Christian often refers to a group of diseases that involve the deep fat. These disorders first appear on the skin as reddish, tender, and raised (inflamed) areas. Mostly, Weber-Christian describes cases of recurring inflammation of special sections of fat called lobules. The exact cause of Weber-Christian panniculitis is unknown. The disorder is frequently associated with generalized symptoms such as fever and body aches.
Weber-Christian disease is most commonly seen in females 30-60 years of age. It can occur in both sexes, in all ages, and rarely in infants. There are no other known risk factors.
Usually, both sides of the body are affected,
and the thighs and lower legs are the most frequent areas. The inflamed
areas can lose their blood supply, the skin can actually die in the area,
ooze yellowish drainage, and become infected. Scarring is common.
The appearance of the skin symptoms are usually accompanied by fever and overall malaise
(feeling poorly). The skin lumps may vary in size but are usually small, the size of
two to three fingertips or about 1-2 cm in size. The skin lumps may gradually flatten, soften, and start to decrease over several weeks. Frequently, the areas heal with a brownish or tan discoloration and leave a sunken scar from the underlying fat necrosis. Less commonly, the skin discoloration may take weeks to months to fade away completely and leave no scar.
What is panniculitis?
The tissue layer under the skin (epidermis and dermis) is called the subcutaneous fat or panniculus. This subcutaneous tissue is very important in temperature regulation and protective insulation of the body. Inflammation of this essential layer of fatty tissue is called panniculitis. In panniculitis, the overlying skin typically appears as red or purplish lumps.
Abdominal pain is pain in the belly and can be acute or chronic. Causes include inflammation, distention of an organ, and loss of the blood supply to an organ. Abdominal pain can reflect a major problem with one of the organs in the abdomen such as the appendix, gallbladder, large and small intestine, pancreas, liver, colon, duodenum, and spleen.
Pancreatitis is a rare disease in which the pancreas becomes inflamed, occurring when digestive enzymes are activated and begin attacking the pancreas causing damage to the gland. There are two types of pancreatitis, acute and chronic. Most commonly caused by alcohol or gallstones, it can lead to bleeding in the gland, serious tissue damage, infection, and cysts. Enzymes and toxins may then enter the bloodstream and seriously injure organs, such as the heart, lungs, and kidney.
Although a fever technically is any body temperature above the normal of 98.6 degrees F. (37 degrees C.), in practice a person is usually not considered to have a significant fever until the temperature is above 100.4 degrees F (38 degrees C.). Fever is part of the body's own disease-fighting arsenal: rising body temperatures apparently are capable of killing off many disease- producing organisms.
Nausea is an uneasiness of the stomach that often precedes vomiting. Nausea and vomiting are not diseases, but they are symptoms of many conditions. The causes of vomiting differ according to age, and treatment depends upon the cause of nausea and vomiting.
Scar formation is a natural part of the healing process after injury. The depth and size of the wound incision and the location of the injury impact the scar's characteristics, but your age, heredity and even sex or ethnicity will affect how your skin reacts.
Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency is an inherited disorder that may cause liver and lung disease in adults. Signs and symptoms include shortness of breath, wheezing, weight loss, respiratory infections, fatigue, vision abnormalities. Advanced lung disease from alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency include emphysema. Liver damage from alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency causes a swollen abdomen, swollen legs or feet, and jaundice.
A sedimentation rate is common
blood test that is used to detect and monitor inflammation in the body. The sedimentation rate is also called the
erythrocyte sedimentation rate because it is a measure of the red blood cells (erythrocytes) sedimenting in a tube over a given period of time. Sedimentation rate is often
abbreviated as sed rate or ESR.
How is a sedimentation rate performed?
A sedimentation rate is performed
by measuring the rate at which red blood cells (RBCs) settle in a test tube. The
RBCs become sediment in the bottom of the test tube over time, leaving the blood
serum visible above. The classic sedimentation rate is simply how far the top of the RBC
layer has fallen (in millimeters) in one hour. The sedimentation rate increases with more inflammation.