What Is the Difference Between Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease?

What Is the Difference Between Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease? (0:35)

Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease are both autoimmune, inflammatory bowel diseases; but ulcerative colitis is limited to the colon. Watch integrative gastroenterologist Robynne Chutkan, MD, explain the main differences in these two conditions.

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Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's disease are both auto immune diseases, that together form what we call inflammatory bowel diseases. But Ulcerative Colitis is limited to the colon, whereas Crohn's can affect any part of the digestive tract, from the mouth all the way down to the anus, and Crohn's frequently affects the small intestine where Ulcerative Colitis doesn't.

The other big difference is that Ulcerative Colitis is limited to the lining of the colon, the mucosa, whereas Crohn's disease affects the full thickness of the bowel wall.