[Laser Doppler flowmetry in treatment follow-up of circumscribed scleroderma]

A 38-year-old male patient presented with circumscribed scleroderma (10 x 12 cm) in the left pectoral area. Hyperaemia of the skin in the area of the lilac ring (morphoea) was quantified by means of Laser-Doppler flux (LDF). At the lilac border of the morphoea LDF was increased to 420% of the reference value recorded for the unaffected skin of the contralateral side. Immediately after 13 days of antibiotic therapy (3 x 10 Mega penicillin G per day, i.v.) LDF normalized, though clinical changes were hardly apparent at this stage. By 6 months later, LDF was still in the normal range, and clinical signs, such as induration and hyperaemic redness, had also significantly improved. LDF measurements allow assessment of the therapeutic response to antibiotic therapy at a very early stage while the clinical situation is still unchanged.