Diffuse Cutaneous Scleroderma (DSSc) SFDI Study

* The primary objective of this study is to validate spatial-frequency domain imaging (SFDI) and related optical techniques as robust, sensitive, and objective methods for quantifying skin involvement in systemic sclerosis. The study aims to use SFDI/SLIM to examine longitudinal skin changes in early diffuse cutaneous SSc patients and the correlation with change in modified Rodnan Skin Score (mRSS). * Secondary objectives include assessing correlations between SFDI measurements of skin in SSc subjects and other clinical outcomes such as durometry, ultrasound, histopathological changes in the skin, or scleroderma patient reported outcomes (PROs). In the current study longitudinal measurements in SSc patients will be taken to examine: the sensitivity and accuracy of SFDI to detect changes in skin thickness over time in response to therapy or from disease progression, the correlation between SFDI measurements and mRSS, and the expression of proteins including PDGFRβ in skin biopsy tissue. In this study SFDI and other clinical outcome assessments of skin thickness and fibrosis in scleroderma patients including skin biopsy histology, scleroderma skin patient reported outcome (SSPRO), ultrasound, and durometry (durometer measures skin hardness) will be compared. SFDI information will also be compared with capillaroscopy (that allows for non-invasive imaging of the nailfold capillaries) if available from the electronic medical record. If SFDI correlates well with other clinical outcome assessments, it may be used as a rapid, non-invasive tool for monitoring disease activity in scleroderma patients.