design: To explore the composition and variation characteristics of the skin microbiota in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and to provide new perspectives for the study of disease mechanisms and early diagnosis and treatment. The skin microbiota of 30 SLE patients (including 20 untreated patients in the active stage and 10 patients in the stable stage after hormone treatment) and 20 healthy controls were analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing technology to assess microbial diversity and abundance.