Lupus erythematosus-associated red lunula

Background: Red lunulae have only rarely been described in patients with lu pus erythematosus. Objective: We assessed the frequency and classified the type of red lunulae in patients with definite lupus erythematosus seen in an interdisciplinary dermatorheumatologic outpatient clinic. Methods: We studied 56 patients with either systemic or cutaneous lupus ery thematosus fur the presence of red lunulae. Results: Eleven of 56 patients (19.6%) with lupus erythematosus had red lun ulae. All of them showed a complete type of red lunulae, which was seen on all finger nails in 10 patients and on a single finger nail in 1 patient. S even patients suffered from systemic lupus, the other from subacute cutaneo us (n = 2) or chronic discoid cutaneous lupus (n = 2). There was no statist ically significant difference in autoantibody expression or treatment regim en between patients with or without red lunulae. However, symptomatic patie nts had a shorter disease interval, and all but 1 showed either periungual erythema or chilblain lupus. Periungual erythema was not observed in any pa tient without red lunulae. Conclusion: Red lunulae, although rarely described in the literature, are n ot an uncommon symptom of patients with lupus erythematosus, They seem to b e associated with periungual erythema or chilblain lupus. Red lunulae shoul d be considered in the clinical spectrum of lupus disease.