Living with a Mysterious Illness: Scleroderma By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Unless you’re a specialist, you might not recognize a chronic disease that is named for its effect on the skin -- but might not appear there. It’s scleroderma. In fact, the symptoms vary greatly for each person: From 75-90% of patients have GI symptoms with it; it can be visible or invisible; it can come and go or last a lifetime; and can be mild or life threatening. The cause is unknown and it might appear at any age., It affects about 300,000 people in the [...]