Geara Abdallah S, Torbey Estelle, El-imad Badiaa
Department of Internal Medicine, Staten Island University Hospital, 784 Olympia Boulevard, Staten Island, New York 10305, USA.
Bull NYU Hosp Jt Dis. 2009;67(4):391-3.
A 53-year-old female was admitted to the intensive care unit for lupus cerebritis; she had a 15-year history of stable lupus. Over the prior 1 to 2 months, the patient visited a tanning salon and this triggered the exacerbation of lupus. Her initial symptoms were cutaneous in the form of an erythematous rash. Within 2 weeks she started to have headaches and was admitted for seizure and psychosis. Ultraviolet A exposure in the tanning salon is known to exacerbate lupus by modulation of the immune system at the level of the skin. It has also been found that ultraviolet light can lead to the formation of antinuclear antibodies. This case illustrates the need to emphasize the danger of the tanning salon to patients with systemic lupus erythematous; the risk is not only cutaneous, it can also be systemic.
