Dermatomyositis & Polymyositis

What are Polymyositis and Dermatomyositis?

They are a group of conditions in which there is inflammation of the muscles. Resulting disability is very variable: sometimes weakness is mild but at the other extreme there may be major disability. Generally speaking, polymyositis (PM) and dermatomyositis (DM) respond to treatment. DM occurring in childhood may have important differences and a separate web page is available entitled ‘Juvenile Dermatomyositis’. Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM) is another important cause of chronic muscle inflammation, mainly in older male subjects and is also dealt with in another web page. With very rare exceptions PM and DM are not inherited. Both PM and DM can affect individuals at any age. For more information about Polymyositis and Dermatomyositis click here.

Support Groups

There are several Myositis Facebook support groups available. Check out the Myositis Support’s Facebook group page. There are also pages for Juvenile Dermatomyositis, Polymyositis, Inclusion Body Myositis, and general Myositis groups. Please refer to the Inflammatory Myopathy page for more details.