Dr. Alai is an actively practicing medical and surgical dermatologist in south Orange County, California. She has been a professor of dermatology and family medicine at the University of California, Irvine since 2000. She is U.S. board-certified in dermatology, a 10-year-certified fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology, and Fellow of the American Society of Mohs Surgery.
Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.
What are other symptoms of Weber-Christian disease?
Weber-Christian disease can also cause symptoms other than in the skin,
such as fever, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, weight loss, and joint pain.
Occasionally, inflammation occurs in other organs of the body to cause
heart, lung, kidney, liver, and/or spleen problems. Liver involvement may first cause abdominal pain. The skin symptoms provide perhaps the most important clue to the diagnosis of Weber-Christian
syndrome. Overall, symptoms with this syndrome may come and go, and relapses are common.
What causes Weber-Christian disease?
The cause of Weber-Christian disease or idiopathic lobular panniculitis is not known.
Idiopathic means unknown cause. A misdirected immune reaction may play a role. The cause may be related to an abnormal bodily response to the normal inflammation.
How is Weber-Christian disease diagnosed?
The diagnosis is made usually by taking a piece of tissue (biopsy) and examining it
under a microscope. There is inflammation of the affected fatty lobules (central part of the fat) of body with increased numbers of white blood cells around the fat and sometimes degeneration or death of fat cells called necrosis.
Laboratory tests using a simple blood draw may be helpful as extra information to suggest inflammation when Weber-Christian disease is suspected. There is no single lab test that completely defines this diagnosis. Abnormal tests such as a highly elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, also called "sed rate" or ESR, may be useful. Additionally, mildly elevated white blood cell count (WBC) on a complete blood cell count (CBC) may be found.
Normal lab tests, including serum and urine amylase and lipase, help to distinguish Weber-Christian
from other diseases of the fat caused by pancreatitis (inflammation of the
pancreas). A normal alpha-1 antitrypsin level helps to differentiate Weber-Christian
disease from a separate fatty inflammatory disease (panniculitis) caused by
alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.
Abdominal pain is pain in the belly and can be acute or chronic. Causes include inflammation, distention of an organ, and loss of the blood supply to an organ. Abdominal pain can reflect a major problem with one of the organs in the abdomen such as the appendix, gallbladder, large and small intestine, pancreas, liver, colon, duodenum, and spleen.
Nausea is an uneasiness of the stomach that often precedes vomiting. Nausea and vomiting are not diseases, but they are symptoms of many conditions. The causes of vomiting differ according to age, and treatment depends upon the cause of nausea and vomiting.
Pancreatitis is a rare disease in which the pancreas becomes inflamed, occurring when digestive enzymes are activated and begin attacking the pancreas causing damage to the gland. There are two types of pancreatitis, acute and chronic. Most commonly caused by alcohol or gallstones, it can lead to bleeding in the gland, serious tissue damage, infection, and cysts. Enzymes and toxins may then enter the bloodstream and seriously injure organs, such as the heart, lungs, and kidney.
Although a fever technically is any body temperature above the normal of 98.6 degrees F. (37 degrees C.), in practice a person is usually not considered to have a significant fever until the temperature is above 100.4 degrees F (38 degrees C.). Fever is part of the body's own disease-fighting arsenal: rising body temperatures apparently are capable of killing off many disease- producing organisms.
Scar formation is a natural part of the healing process after injury. The depth and size of the wound incision and the location of the injury impact the scar's characteristics, but your age, heredity and even sex or ethnicity will affect how your skin reacts.
Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency is an inherited disorder that may cause liver and lung disease in adults. Signs and symptoms include shortness of breath, wheezing, weight loss, respiratory infections, fatigue, vision abnormalities. Advanced lung disease from alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency include emphysema. Liver damage from alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency causes a swollen abdomen, swollen legs or feet, and jaundice.
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