DLE or SLE

[Barrangary]

Hello,

My first post here, but I’ve already picked up some really useful info. I’d be grateful if I could tell you my situation and maybe get some advice.

So I’m August last year my face broke out in a rash, across my forehead, cheeks and nose. My GP couldn’t diagnose it, luckily I have medical cover through work so in January I saw a dermatologist. His first thought was DLE and he arranges I biopsy. In the meantime he prescribed me Dermovate, which probably isn’t something you really want to apply to your face, but it worked a treat and after a few days my skin was more or less clear.

The biopsy confirmed what he thought and we arranged blood tests. We also were able to switch to using Eumovate which is apparently a weaker cream than Dermovate. Other than the facial rash I didn’t have any other symptoms so Dermatologist was pretty sure the blood tests would be ok. And this is where I get confused because 2 of the tests were fine but a double stranded dna (??) showed positive. We did the tests again and had the same result. It seemed to also confuse my Dermatologist, who discussed with a Rheumatologist who said they wouldn’t have even bothered with the Double Stranded test due to the first 2 tests done being negative.

Then in hindsight I did something quite stupid, because my wife really wanted a week in Spain, we went on holiday. I thought if I doused myself in factor 50 and wore a hat and generally stayed in the shade I’d be fine - and my skin was fine, but after 24 hours literally every joint in my body was clicking and cracking. We’ve been back in UK since Saturday and they’re still the same. It’s not especially painful at this point, but I’m pretty depressed as it would suggest to me that it’s more than just DLE??

Thanks for letting me get all that off my chest.

Andy