Simple, noninvasive technique can assess collagen in the skin of scleroderma patients

Scleroderma (systemic sclerosis) is a rare, chronic autoimmune disease that causes the body to produce too much collagen, leading to the hardening and thickening of the skin and internal organs. For more than 50 years, physicians have relied on manually pinching the skin to assess its thickness, a subjective approach that remains central to the diagnosis of systemic sclerosis, assessment of disease progression, and response to treatment.