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Betty W: Morphea

When I was sixteen years of age I was diagnosed with morphea. I had spots of morphea on my hand, on the top part of my arms and on the top part of my leg.

The dermatologist took a biopsy of my hand and diagnosed this to be morphea. I was told they knew very little about this disease. He said if I had to have it I had the best kind, some kinds would get into your internal organs.

That was in 1984. Twenty-two years later I am fine except for some ugly spots on these places but they have lightened. Needless to say, I was very frightened as I did not know what to expect and neither did the doctor. He did say it was very rare.

I feel blessed that it ran its course without too much damage to my skin. Hopefully after this long it will never return.

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ISN Artist: Sherrill Knaggs (In Loving Memory)

Sherrill Knaggs, ISN Artist, created the digital photo to illustrate the story on this page. Sherrill lived in New Zealand. Her story was featured in ISN's book, Voices of Scleroderma Volume 2.

ISN Story Editor: Judith Thompson Devlin

Judith Thompson Devlin is the ISN Story Editor for this story. She is also lead editor of the ISN's wonderful Voices of Scleroderma book series!

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