Autoimmune diseases are a group of diseases where your immune cells (that should be fighting infections) start to attack your normal cells. For example, in vitiligo, your immune cells are attacking the colour cells in your skin, leaving you with a light patch. Or in alopecia areata, your immune cells are attacking your hair follicles, and you lose that patch of hair. In some autoimmune diseases like lupus (also called SLE – systemic lupus erythematosus), your immune cells attack various organs leading to all kinds of symptoms.

The skin (what a wonderful organ) is a very visible organ. So it’s easier to spot early signs that your body might be ‘attacking’ itself and that you might have an autoimmune disease. Dr Lerinza teaches us the 5 early warning signs that you should look out for…