The features of both HIV infection and connective tissue disease are often nonspecific and may mimic other disorders as well as each other. We treated a patient with presumed systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) for 4 years, who finally admitted to longstanding infection with HIV. The coexistence of SLE and HIV is unusual and has, although reported in the rheumatological journals, not often been discussed in the dermatological literature.