It is hard to say if your sister is experiencing the symptoms of lupus, or not. Lupus manifests with a skin rash and affects the joints... but it has to be confirmed with more symptoms and laboratory analyses. For lupus, the patient might have at least 4 of these criteria:
1. facial rash;
2. redness with hyperkeratosis and atrophy on the skin;
3. photosensitivity;
4. painless ulcerations of the oral and nasal mucosa;
5. joint inflammation on 2 or more peripheral joints;
6. pleurisy or pericarditis;
7. laboratory signs for renal failure;
8. neurological disturbances;
9. blood disturbances (decreasing of the number of erythrocytes, leucocytes and thrombocytes);
10. detection of auto-antibodies (anti-DNA, anti-ANA, anti-Sm, etc.), and
11. positive lupus-band-test (immuno-histology) on not affected skin.
Your sister can follow up at her doctor's office and seek a diagnosis from a specialist.
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