We report the first case of a young female patient who developed a sensory-motor polyneuropathy, without any skin or internal involvement characteristic of SSc, but with a serological positivity of antitopoisomerase I antibodies. After 4 years she developed a rapid skin tightening with lung involvement, in a full blown picture of the diffuse subset of SSc. The case suggests that the peripheral nervous system deserves more attention, in particular in the earliest phase of SSc.