Pulmonary sarcoidosis can cause loss of lung volume, or the amount of air the lungs can hold, therefore causing abnormal lung stiffness. The disease is characterized by the presence of granulomas, small areas of inflamed cells. They can be either inside the body or on the body's exterior. They can appear on the walls of the alveoli, which are small air sacs in the lungs, or on the walls of the bronchioles, the breathing tubes in the lungs. These granulomatous lesions can also appear as sores on the face or bodily areas.
Most sarcoidosis patients have no symptoms at all.
In pulmonary sarcoidosis, patients may have a dry cough, shortness of breath, or mild chest pain. There also can be fatigue and weakness. These symptoms are common in many other lung diseases, so diagnosis may be a complex matter involving much testing. In those cases where symptoms do appear outside the lung, they can include a rash, like red bumps on the legs and shoulders, sometimes a fever, soreness of the eyes, and pain and swelling of the ankles. Sarcoidosis Diagnosis Any of the symptoms listed in the previous section may lead a physician to consider sarcoidosis.