hi there

I think the best thing to do would be to go and see a dermatologist and have that rash biopsied. I have never heard of a lupus rash feeling tight, it would be more usual for scleroderma to feel tight, but then again with scleroderma there is not any discolouring (although my knowledge on scleroderma is very limited - I have sclerodactyl of the fingers along with my lupus but that is about it).

One strong feature of scleroderma is that the skin becomes 'bound down' ie you can't move the skin around with your finger, it becomes 'stuck' to the structure below it. Of course on parts of the nose that is normal (nostril area) but on the bridge of the nose you should be able to My understanding that it does feel tight with scleroderma.

If you get a biospy done, then you will get an idea of what is going on and possible a dx in terms of autoimmune process. When labs are not definitive, a biopsy can help clinch a dx.

hth

raglet