How to Get Social Security Disability for Scleroderma

If your scleroderma makes it hard for you to walk or use your hands, or it has begun to affect your organs, you're likely to qualify for disability benefits.

By , Attorney · Mitchell Hamline School of Law
Updated by Bethany K. Laurence, Attorney · UC Law San Francisco
Updated 1/21/2025

Scleroderma is a rare autoimmune disease affecting about 300,000 people in the United States. While children can develop it, scleroderma is most common in adults, typically appearing between the ages of 30 and 50—during the prime working years. And women are nearly four times more likely to develop the condition than men.

Scleroderma causes chronic hardening and tightening of the skin and connective tissues. In more severe cases, it can affect your internal organs, including your heart, lungs, kidneys, or digestive system.

About a third of those who suffer from scleroderma have this more severe, sometimes life-threatening form of the disease. But even milder forms of the disease come with painful symptoms.

If your scleroderma symptoms are severe enough to prevent you from working, you might qualify for Social Security disability insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits. Here's what you need to know.

What Are the Symptoms of Scleroderma?

With scleroderma, your immune system mistakenly attacks other cells in your body, causing inflammation and injury to those cells. In response, your body makes too much collagen, which builds up and causes areas of tight, hard skin or organ tissue.

Your scleroderma symptoms could be moderate to severe and might include painful joint swelling or pain and numbness in your hands and feet. Or you might have digestive or breathing difficulties because of scarring or inflammation in your lungs and esophagus.

Doctors classify scleroderma as either localized or systemic, depending on which parts of your body are affected.

What Is Localized Scleroderma?

All forms of scleroderma affect the skin. Localized scleroderma affects only the skin and tissues just beneath the skin, including muscle tissue. It's a milder form of scleroderma that generally doesn't affect internal organs.

Localized scleroderma also has two forms:

  • Morphea causes waxy patches of thickening skin that can vary in size, shape, and color.
  • Linear scleroderma usually starts as a streak of hardened, waxy skin on an arm or leg, or on the forehead or face. It tends to involve deeper layers of skin and can affect joint motion in the affected area.

It's possible to have both morphea and linear scleroderma at the same time. But both forms are generally considered mild conditions.

What Is Systemic Scleroderma or Systemic Sclerosis?

Systemic scleroderma, or systemic sclerosis, is a more severe form of scleroderma that affects multiple body systems and can cause organ damage. Common symptoms of systemic scleroderma include the following:

  • thickening of the skin on your fingers and toes (sclerodactyly)
  • open sores or ulcers on your fingers or toes (digital ulcers)
  • painful lumps or calcium nodules under your skin (calcinosis), and
  • esophageal dysfunction (causing chest pain, heartburn, or difficulty swallowing).

Often one of the first symptoms of systemic sclerosis—and one of the most common—is Raynaud's phenomenon, a condition where the blood vessels in your fingers or toes tighten when exposed to cold. During an attack, your affected digits might turn blue or white and feel numb. As they warm up, they can turn red, throb, tingle, or swell.

Systemic sclerosis usually develops in one of two patterns:

  • Limited scleroderma develops slowly over years and usually involves skin thickening on the fingers, hands, face, arms, and lower legs. Damage to internal organs tends to be less common and less severe. This form of systemic sclerosis is also called CREST, an acronym representing five common symptoms:
    • calcinosis
    • Raynaud phenomenon
    • esophageal dysfunction
    • sclerodactyly, and
    • telangiectasia (clusters of blood vessels or spider veins you can see under your skin).
  • Diffuse scleroderma usually starts suddenly in the fingers and toes, but then extends beyond the elbows and knees to the upper arms, thighs, or torso. It can cause pain in your bones and muscles and severe organ damage anywhere along your digestive tract or in your kidneys, lungs, or heart.

Can I Get Disability for My Scleroderma?

Some diseases, including systemic scleroderma, are eligible for automatic approval if your condition meets the requirements of one of the Social Security Administration's (SSA's) impairment "listings" (called the Blue Book). If you meet the scleroderma listing, the claims examiner won't have to consider how your condition affects your ability to work.

The scleroderma listing in the Blue Book falls under immune system disorders (section 14.00). Other conditions covered in this section, which sometimes co-occur with scleroderma, include:

Social Security evaluates disability claims based on scleroderma using listing 14.04 for systemic sclerosis. To qualify under this listing, you must have a diagnosis of scleroderma and meet one of the four following conditions.

Scleroderma Affecting Multiple Body Systems

Your scleroderma affects two or more of your organs or "body systems" (such as the skin and pulmonary system), and:

  • one organ or body system is affected to at least a "moderate" level of severity, and
  • you experience at least two of the following symptoms:
    • fever
    • malaise (feeling unwell)
    • severe fatigue, or
    • involuntary weight loss.

Contractures in Your Hands or Feet Caused by Scleroderma

Your scleroderma has caused contractures (tightening of the muscles or tissues, making it hard to move your joints normally) or deformities in your hands or feet that meet one of the following sets of criteria:

  • toe contractures or deformities in one or both feet that prevent you from walking without an assistive device that requires:
    • two hands (like a walker, bilateral crutches, or a manual wheelchair), or
    • only one hand (like a cane), but you're unable to use the other hand due to a physical impairment, or
  • finger contractures or deformities in both hands that prevent you from performing fine and gross movements like:
    • lifting objects
    • sorting papers
    • holding a pen, or
    • tying your shoe.

Atrophy in Your Arms or Legs Because of Sclerosis

You have irreversible atrophy (tissue wasting) in your arms or legs that meets the following criteria:

  • the atrophy in one or both of your legs prevents you from walking without an assistive device that requires:
    • both hands (like bilateral crutches), or
    • only one hand (like a cane), but you don't have the use the other hand due to a physical impairment, or
  • atrophy in both arms prevents you from performing fine and gross movements, like lifting objects or holding a pen.

Scleroderma Causing Raynaud's Phenomenon

You have Raynaud's phenomenon (blood vessel constriction in your fingers or toes) with one of the following:

  • gangrene (tissue death) in at least two limbs (one arm and one leg, both legs, or both arms)
  • ischemia (lack of blood supply) with open sores on your fingers that prevent you from performing work-related activities requiring fine and gross movements like grasping or lifting objects, or
  • ischemia with open sores on your toes that prevent you from walking without an assistive device requiring two hands (like a walker) or one hand (like a cane) while you can't use the other hand due to a physical impairment.

Systemic Sclerosis Flare-Ups Causing Limitations

You have "repeated manifestations" (recurring symptoms) of systemic scleroderma that significantly interfere with your day-to-day activities, your social functioning, or your ability to finish tasks in a normal amount of time, and at least two of the following constitutional symptoms or signs:

  • fever
  • malaise (feeling unwell)
  • severe fatigue, or
  • involuntary weight loss.

Medical Evidence Needed to Prove You're Disabled by Scleroderma

To qualify for SSDI or SSI disability benefits, you'll need medical evidence that proves you have a severe medical condition that has lasted (or is expected to last) at least a year and affects your daily functioning. Social Security will expect to see:

  • a diagnosis of scleroderma or systemic sclerosis from an acceptable medical source
  • objective medical findings that support the diagnosis, such as:
    • laboratory test results
    • diagnostic imaging (CT scans, X-rays) reports, and
    • your doctor's treatment notes detailing the severity of your symptoms and limitations
  • documentation of your need for an assistive device that helps with stability, dexterity, or mobility (if you use one), including statements from your health care provider explaining:
    • your specific limitations with arm, hand, or leg function, and
    • when you need to use the device.

If scleroderma has affected your internal organs, such as your lungs or digestive system, you'll need additional medical evidence of the damage and your doctor's explanation of how it affects your ability to function.

Social Security might ask your treating doctor to complete a questionnaire about the functional limitations caused by your scleroderma. Social Security might also send you for additional testing or a consultative exam (CE), which the SSA will pay for. (20 C.F.R. § 404.1519a.)

What If My Scleroderma Doesn't Meet the Listing Requirements?

Even if you don't meet the listing requirements for systemic scleroderma, you might still qualify for disability benefits. Social Security will prepare a residual functional capacity (RFC) assessment for you that details the work-related limitations caused by your illness.

Social Security will use your RFC to determine what kind of work—if any—you can be expected to do, given your limitations. The SSA will first determine if you can still perform previous jobs you've held in the last five years. If you can't, the agency will assess whether you can adjust to other types of work, considering your age and job skills.

If you can't do your past work or any other jobs, you'll qualify for disability benefits. But younger disability applicants sometimes have a harder time meeting this standard.

For applicants under 50, you'll typically need to prove that you can't handle even the simplest, sedentary jobs. Those 50 and older might find it easier to qualify because of special guidelines known as the medical-vocational grid rules.

The more types of limitations your medical records show, the fewer jobs you can be expected to do. That's why it's important for your doctor to record all your limitations in your medical record. If you have enough limitations, Social Security will have to find that there are no jobs you can still do.

For more information on how your RFC can help you qualify for disability, see our article on medical-vocational allowances.

Non-Medical Requirements for Social Security Disability

To qualify for disability benefits, you have to meet the financial and legal criteria for the disability program you're applying for:

  • SSDI (Social Security disability), or
  • SSI (Supplemental Security Income).

To be eligible for either disability benefit, you can't earn more than about $1,600 per month from working. Otherwise, Social Security will consider your work "substantial gainful activity" (SGA). And if you can perform SGA, the SSA won't find you disabled.

Also, your scleroderma must prevent you from being able to earn above the SGA limit for at least 12 months to meet Social Security's durational requirement.

How Much Disability Is Paid for Auto-Immune Diseases?

Social Security doesn't pay disability benefits based on what type of medical condition you have. Instead, the amount of your monthly disability payment will depend on whether you're receiving SSDI or SSI disability benefits.

SSDI payments are calculated using your covered earnings. In 2025, the maximum SSDI benefit you can receive is about $4,000, although the average amount is much lower, around $1,600 per month. This discrepancy is due to the broad range of wage histories among SSDI recipients.

SSI is a needs-based program for people with limited income and resources. The amount of SSI you can receive is based on a pre-set federal benefit rate, which is adjusted each year based on inflation. For 2025, the federal benefit rate is $967 per month.

So, if you qualify for SSI, in 2025, you'd receive $967 per month minus any countable income you have for that month (which can include the value of free rent). And some states offer modest supplemental payments in addition to the federal benefit rate.

How Can I Apply for Disability Benefits?

An easy way to apply for Social Security disability benefits is to file your claim online at ssa.gov. You can also file a claim over the phone by contacting Social Security at 800-772-1213, but be prepared for long wait times. Or apply in person at your local Social Security office.

For more information, please see our article about applying for Social Security disability benefits.

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