Dermatomyositis Treatment

Dermatomyositis is an autoimmune disease and therefore therapy is directed at altering a patient’s immune system.  All of these therapies therefore have some significant risk of side effects and treatment needs to be undertaken only with physicians accustomed to using these medications and to monitoring their side effects.  Corticosteroids are often used as a first line therapy to treat dermatomyositis because they decrease the muscle inflammation. These can be effective in a matter of weeks. If corticosteroids are ineffective, other immunosuppressive medications may be given such as azathioprine, mycophenylate mofetil, cyclosporine, or methotrexate.  Intravenous immunoglobulin has also been shown to be effective in very refractory cases.

Dermatomyositis Symptoms
Causes of Dermatomyositis
Cure for Dermatomyositis
Dermatomyositis Research