Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which the body begins to see its own tissues as foreign and begins an immune attack against those tissues.
Discoid lupus is a disease of the skin, which is often chronic and leads to scarring.
It may be limited to the skin and not associated with disease in any other body system or it may be one of the symptoms of the systemic form of lupus. Systemic lupus erythematosus is a chronic, systemic, inflammatory disease. The cause of SLE is unknown. Antibodies may form, without the presence of foreign substances, and attack the body s own tissues. Inflammation and injury to body tissues and organs result, and may be the cause of the symptoms people with lupus experience.