Elderly people often feel dry mouth and eyes, which is more obvious at night, and they need to drink water before they can fall asleep again. Most people think that this is not a disease, it may be the weather is too dry or older, this is indeed a cause, and the installation of dentures, sleep at night when the mouth open breathing or taking certain drugs can also cause dry mouth. However, if dry mouth and dry eyes are more obvious, or if you have swollen parotid glands, swollen and painful joints, or flaky teeth, you need to be alert to whether you are suffering from dry syndrome. Dry syndrome is a chronic systemic rheumatic disease that mainly affects the lacrimal and salivary glands. The cause of the disease is not clear, and it is most common in women over 50 years of age. It is often associated with immune disorders, and a variety of autoantibodies, such as anti-SSA and SSB, can be detected in the blood. Dry mouth About 70% to 80% of the patients have dry mouth symptoms, severe cases need to drink frequently when speaking, need to eat solid food accompanied by water or fluids sent down, sometimes need to get up at night to drink water. 50% of the patients may appear uncontrollable dental caries, teeth gradually become black, followed by flaky loss. The tongue is dry and cracked, and the mouth is often infected with mold.50% of patients may have parotitis, which is characterized by alternating parotid gland swelling and pain, which may subside in about 10 days, and sometimes may remain enlarged. Dry eyes Patients may also have dry eyes, foreign body sensation and few tears due to the decrease of mucin secretion by lacrimal glands, and in severe cases, they may cry without tears, and some of the patients may have recurrent suppurative infections of the eyelids, conjunctivitis and keratitis. Dryness in other parts Other superficial parts such as skin, nasal mucosa, mucosa of digestive tract and vaginal mucosa can be dry due to decreased secretion of glands. In addition to dryness of the mouth and eyes, patients may also have systemic symptoms such as fatigue, fever, etc. About 2/3 of the patients may have systemic damage. Skin, muscle and joint involvement Skin manifestations of vasculitis, such as allergic purpura-like rash, mostly in the lower limbs, the size of a grain of rice with clear boundaries of the red papules, pressure does not fade, appeared in batches, lasted for about 10 days can be subsided on their own. Patients may have myalgia and non-dysmorphic arthritis or arthralgia. Respiratory system involvement Most patients do not have respiratory symptoms; mild involvement may present with a dry cough, while severe involvement may present with shortness of breath, and the lungs may present with chronic bronchitis, interstitial pneumonitis, interstitial fibrosis, and abnormalities of the diffusion function of the lungs. Digestive system involvement Gastrointestinal exocrine gland lesions present with atrophic gastritis, decreased gastric acid, and dyspepsia, etc. About 20% of patients have liver damage, which may be accompanied by primary biliary cirrhosis or autoimmune hepatitis. Renal involvement About 30% to 50% of patients have renal damage, which may present with subclinical type of renal tubular acidosis, renal tubular acidosis and glomerulonephritis. Clinical manifestations may include hypokalemic muscle paralysis and proteinuria. Involvement of the blood system may show decreases in white blood cells, hemoglobin and platelets. Patients with significant platelet drop may have bleeding tendency. If the above symptoms occur, please consult the rheumatology department in time. Further diagnosis of dry syndrome requires relevant serum immunology tests, oral or ophthalmologic examinations. Once diagnosed, treatment should be standardized. The disease has a slow course with a good prognosis, and most of the cases can be controlled and put into remission after appropriate treatment. If systemic damage occurs, the prognosis is worse, so it is very important to seek medical treatment as early as possible to control the disease in the cradle.