Neonatal lupus erythematosus

Abstract

Neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE) is a rare syndrome of newborns and infants defined by the presence of maternal autoantibodies and the characteristic clinical features of the infant. The clinical findings most often reported are congenital heart block and cutaneous lesions; however, many children have cardiomyopathy, hepatobiliary disease, and/or hematologic diatheses. We present the case of a 1-day-old African American boy who presented with an annular, ulcerated facial eruption at birth and went on to develop subacute cutaneous LE (SCLE) and heart block.