My wife has had a rough time this summer for a number of reasons, but I know that one of the contributing factors was sun exposure. I was wondering how some other lupus patients deal with sun sensitivity? My wife is not only extremely sun sensitive, but she is also very sensitive to some artificial light sources, like the kind that are found in large department stores or office buildings.

According to the Arthritis Pain Cure Center,

Scientists think that ultraviolet light (which is in sunlight, fluorescent lights, photocopiers, and VDUs) create antigens (protein molecules) on the skin surface which react with antibodies. The antibodies cause white blood cells to be drawn to the skin and attack it and a rash appears. The redness and inflammation may also be due to excessive nitric oxide present in the skin after lupus patients are exposed to sun. In lupus, sun is more likely to cause problems than artificial sources of light.

The UV rays in sunlight causes damage to the skin (keratinocytes), resulting in sunburn. In normal people, the sunburn goes away because the dead skin cells get cleared away quickly. In lupus, sun causes the damage to skin cells but the cells are not cleared away very well. The releases of the contents of the cells cause inflammation. In addition, the cell contents, which include Ro, are able to cause an immune response. The immune system responds to the cells by creating autoantibodies which attack the skin.

We have talked about tinting the windows in our car, but it is somewhat expensive, and we have been told that some tinting may be illegal. We have purchased some clothing that is extremely UV resistant, but it doesn’t get worn often because, well, it’s not very pretty. I swear someday that we are going to have a vacation where we sleep during the day and go out at night.