Cutaneous manifestations of systemic diseases are important in the sense that they are not just skin diseases but skin diseases that point to systemic diseases. Some of these systemic diseases may not be overt at the time that the patient who is comorbid presents with the skin manifestation. The skin manifestation is easy for the patient to see the change in the texture or pigmentation of the skin, unless it is located where an additional mirror is required to see an asymptomatic skin condition. The skin diseases are also easy to feel as a result of pruritus, pain, paresthesia, or dysesthesia. Apart from a skin condition acting as an indicator to a systemic condition that usually comes with multiple symptoms and signs, it may make the physician think about more than one disease. An example is acanthosis nigricans. Its typical skin presentation is almost unmistakable. However, a physician whom a patient with acanthosis nigricans consults should think of metabolic syndrome; in thinking about metabolic syndrome, the doctor extrapolates to components of the syndrome, like obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases that may predispose the patient to developing stroke. It does not mean that these would be fully manifested. Taking the time to explain to the patient the importance of looking beyond acanthosis nigricans to something (or things) that may be associated with it is part of good practice by a general medical practitioner or any other physician. The doctor must show empathy in addition to professional competence during the consultation with these patients. The doctor who attends to them must also have patience with their patients; this is because some patients may think that the doctor is trying to make them do investigations for pecuniary reasons when they presented a skin challenge on, for example, the neck. Only five conditions are described because the case studies emphasis of this book necessitates having at least one suitable image to illustrate the condition. The author could only obtain the images on the conditions that are described in this chapter. The five conditions are carbuncle, pressure injuries, systemic lupus erythematosus, Kaposi sarcoma, and acanthosis nigricans. What is described in the preceding two paragraphs regarding acanthosis nigricans is applicable to carbuncles and pressure injuries. With respect to systemic lupus erythematosus and Kaposi sarcoma, the skin conditions bear the same names as the overall systemic disease entity. It is easier to explain these to the patient for the patients who like to Google a health challenge before they consult the doctor and would surely Google what the doctor said during consultation. Depending on the details that their chosen source provides, such patients are more likely to agree with their doctor pertaining to this category of skin manifestations of systemic diseases than the situation with the earlier example using acanthosis nigricans. These five topics of this chapter cover a condition that is a bacterial infection (carbuncle) just as the chapter covers a malignant disease (Kaposi sarcoma).

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Cutaneous Manifestations of Systemic Diseases

  • Inyang Ukot

摘要

Cutaneous manifestations of systemic diseases are important in the sense that they are not just skin diseases but skin diseases that point to systemic diseases. Some of these systemic diseases may not be overt at the time that the patient who is comorbid presents with the skin manifestation. The skin manifestation is easy for the patient to see the change in the texture or pigmentation of the skin, unless it is located where an additional mirror is required to see an asymptomatic skin condition. The skin diseases are also easy to feel as a result of pruritus, pain, paresthesia, or dysesthesia. Apart from a skin condition acting as an indicator to a systemic condition that usually comes with multiple symptoms and signs, it may make the physician think about more than one disease. An example is acanthosis nigricans. Its typical skin presentation is almost unmistakable. However, a physician whom a patient with acanthosis nigricans consults should think of metabolic syndrome; in thinking about metabolic syndrome, the doctor extrapolates to components of the syndrome, like obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases that may predispose the patient to developing stroke. It does not mean that these would be fully manifested. Taking the time to explain to the patient the importance of looking beyond acanthosis nigricans to something (or things) that may be associated with it is part of good practice by a general medical practitioner or any other physician. The doctor must show empathy in addition to professional competence during the consultation with these patients. The doctor who attends to them must also have patience with their patients; this is because some patients may think that the doctor is trying to make them do investigations for pecuniary reasons when they presented a skin challenge on, for example, the neck. Only five conditions are described because the case studies emphasis of this book necessitates having at least one suitable image to illustrate the condition. The author could only obtain the images on the conditions that are described in this chapter. The five conditions are carbuncle, pressure injuries, systemic lupus erythematosus, Kaposi sarcoma, and acanthosis nigricans. What is described in the preceding two paragraphs regarding acanthosis nigricans is applicable to carbuncles and pressure injuries. With respect to systemic lupus erythematosus and Kaposi sarcoma, the skin conditions bear the same names as the overall systemic disease entity. It is easier to explain these to the patient for the patients who like to Google a health challenge before they consult the doctor and would surely Google what the doctor said during consultation. Depending on the details that their chosen source provides, such patients are more likely to agree with their doctor pertaining to this category of skin manifestations of systemic diseases than the situation with the earlier example using acanthosis nigricans. These five topics of this chapter cover a condition that is a bacterial infection (carbuncle) just as the chapter covers a malignant disease (Kaposi sarcoma).