Neonatal lupus erythematosus

Neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE) is a rare disease characterized by the t ransplacental passage from the mother to the fetus of autoantibodies, in pa rticular anti-Ro(SS-A), anti-La(SS-B), or both. The majority of infants wit h NLE exhibit isolated congenital heart block, cutaneous lesions analogous to those of adult subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus, or both. We repor t a case of MLE in a 3-month-old male infant, born to a clinically asymptom atic mother, presenting small, annular, erythematous plaques with sharp, hy perkeratotic borders and central clearing localized at the eyebrow region. Both the infant and the mother were positive for anti-Ro(SS-A).