Can you help me, my daughter (14) has SLE. Being a young girl she is interested in tattoos (permanent) and piercings (just upper ear). I understand there are age limits particularly for tattoos, but my question is whether permanent tattoos and piercings are out of the question because of lupus?

There are no specific problems associated with tattoos in lupus patients. Clearly you should be aware of the small risk of infection with hepatitis B and C and very occasionally lupus patients may have a reaction to the tattoo dye but this is very rare.