Autoimmune skin disease is chronic and serious — and it can be controlled.
The autoimmune skin disease service of Chongqing West District Hospital diagnoses and manages pemphigus and other blistering diseases, cutaneous lupus erythematosus, scleroderma and morphea, dermatomyositis and lichen planus — with biopsy and immunofluorescence, long-term immunosuppressive treatment and the monitoring it requires, inside a tertiary general hospital.
Diagnosis before treatment, treatment classes explained honestly, and a clear account of what long-term immunosuppression costs in monitoring, infection risk and follow-up.
- Diagnosis by biopsy and immunofluorescence
- Evidence-based immunosuppressive care
- Multidisciplinary organ monitoring
- Honest about long-term treatment
Care that starts with naming the disease correctly
These conditions are uncommon, their treatments are powerful, and a wrong label costs months. Every plan follows the same three principles.
Diagnose
A rash is not a diagnosis. We examine the skin and mucous membranes, take a biopsy, use direct immunofluorescence where blistering is present, and read the blood tests as one picture rather than as isolated results.
Control
Active disease is brought under control with the treatment class that fits its severity and the organs involved, using the lowest effective exposure, and always alongside the blood monitoring that class requires.
Maintain and watch
These conditions are chronic and relapsing, so treatment is usually long term. We plan the taper, watch for involvement of other organs, and treat flares as an expected part of the disease rather than as a failure.
Dermatology specialists inside a tertiary hospital
Autoimmune skin disease is a dermatology problem first: it is named by the skin, and it is followed through the skin. Our department joins that diagnostic work with the medical management these conditions need, and with the hospital’s pathology, rheumatology, respiratory and renal services when the disease reaches beyond the skin.
Yongbo Jia, MD (贾勇波)
Dermatology Lead · Deputy Director
Head of dermatology and lead physician of this service: the diagnosis of blistering and connective tissue disease of the skin, the interpretation of biopsy and immunofluorescence, and the long-term medical management of immunosuppressive treatment and its monitoring.
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Ke He, MD (何锞)
Skin & Laser Aesthetics · Deputy Director
Head of skin and laser aesthetics; more than 20 years on the clinical front line of procedural dermatology, with the laser and topical management of skin disease that has left pigment change, scarring or hair loss behind.
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Tongchun Mao, MD (毛彤春)
Aesthetic Surgery · Deputy Director
Deputy Director and head of aesthetic surgery; the surgical side of skin disease, including diagnostic and therapeutic excision with margin control, and reconstruction where disease or scarring has damaged the skin.
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Shaoliang Wang, MD (王韶亮)
Plastic Surgery · Center Director
Center Director; leads complex wound repair and surgical reconstruction, and the correction of damage left by disease or by previous operations, with more than 20 years of tertiary-hospital surgical experience.
View profile →Autoimmune skin disease, explained honestly
Start with the basics: what these diseases are, how they are diagnosed, what each one does, what treatment classes exist, and what living with a chronic, relapsing condition actually involves.
What Autoimmune Skin Disease Is
How the immune system comes to attack the skin, the main categories these conditions fall into, and why they behave as long-term illnesses rather than passing rashes.
Read the guide →How Autoimmune Skin Disease Is Diagnosed
Biopsy, direct immunofluorescence, serology and the clinical reasoning that turns a rash into a named diagnosis, and why a dermatologist should lead the workup.
Read the guide →Pemphigus: Types, Blistering and Treatment
How pemphigus separates the skin, why it is treated as a serious disease, and the treatment classes used with the monitoring they demand.
Read the guide →Bullous Pemphigoid and Other Blistering Diseases
How bullous pemphigoid differs from pemphigus in age, course and treatment, and where the rarer blistering diseases fit.
Read the guide →Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus
The subtypes of skin lupus, why sunlight drives it, and the systemic screening that has to accompany a skin diagnosis.
Read the guide →Scleroderma and Morphea
Localised and systemic scleroderma compared: skin tightening, the organs at risk, and the monitoring that long-term disease requires.
Read the guide →We will not sell you certainty we do not have
No treatment cures these conditions. Most people need treatment for years, and relapse when it is reduced or stopped is common. Immunosuppressive treatment raises the risk of infection and requires regular blood tests; long-term corticosteroids carry their own burden of bone, metabolic and eye complications. Flares are expected, some scarring and hair loss can be permanent, and no outcome can be guaranteed. Anyone who tells you otherwise is not giving you honest medical advice.
Speak to a dermatologist about your skin
Reach out for an assessment. We will examine the skin, arrange the biopsy and blood tests the diagnosis needs, and explain what long-term treatment can realistically do and what it costs in monitoring and risk.
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