It has been reported that some patients have been misdiagnosed with Scleroderma, when in fact the correct diagnosis in their specific case was Reactive Arthritis.
Reactive Arthritis or Reiter’s Syndrome is arthritis that primarily affects young adult males and causes painful inflammation and stiffness in the joints, eyes, urethra and skin. Symtoms include mouth ulcers, sore eyes, keratoderma blennorrhagica (scaly patches of skin on the palms, soles, torso and scalp), back pain, and pain from inflammation of ligaments and tendons. There is a lot of overlap between reactive arthritis and lyme disease, lupus, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, scleroderma, gout, bursitis, sarcoidosis and vasculitis. This can easily lead to misdiagnosis.