CORRELATION BETWEEN CLINICAL AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL PATTERNS IN PATIENTS WITH PHOTO DERMATOSES
Main Article Content
Keywords
Photodermatoses, Papular Lesions, Histopathological Findings.
Abstract
Background: Photodermatoses are a category of conditions arising from atypical skin responses to sun radiation. These include idiopathic photodermatoses , drug induced photodermatoses, DNA repair-defect photodermatoses, and photo-aggravated dermatoses. Their differential diagnosis is challenging; therefore, it is essential to correlate the clinical and histological results
Methods
An observational study was done among patients diagnosed clinically to have photodermatoses, who presented to Department of Dermatology, Trichy SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre to correlate clinical and histopathological findings. A total of 150 patients with clinically diagnosed photodermatoses were enrolled for the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to gather information. Detailed information about demographic details with the data regarding occupation, outdoor activity, dressing habits, symptoms, aggravating factors and associated medical conditions was observed and collected; the patient underwent a physical and cutaneous examination by a single dermatology resident to avoid inter-observer variation. The lesion was examined for the distribution, morphology, primary and secondary lesions. Skin biopsy was taken for the purpose of histopathological examination and a clinical photograph was also documented for all cases. Data were entered and analysed using SPSS statistical package IBM version 2.1.
Results
Participants were mostly between the ages of 18 and 30 (46%), with those between the ages of 31 and 40 (28%), coming in second. Of the sample, 54.66% (82 participants) were female, and 45.33% (68 participants) were male. 103 participants, or 68.66% of the total, reported engaging in outdoor activities frequently. Plaques were the most prevalent lesion shape among the patients with photodermatoses, occurring in 61.33% of cases, followed by papules (52%) and macules (24%). Among 150 cases of photodermatoses, polymorphous light eruption (PMLE) was the most prevalent clinical diagnosis, occurring in 87 (58%) of cases. Out of 87 cases of PMLE, 23 cases (26.43%), 43 (49.42%) and 21 cases (24.13%) were reported as acanthosis, spongiosis and exocytosis as a histopathology findings. In PPD diagnosed 26 cases, orthokeratotic hyperkeratosis, hyergraulosis, acanthosis were observed among 10 (38.46%), 11 (42.3%) and 5 (19.23%) cases respectively. All the cases (15 cases) of DLE were showed orthokeratic hyperkeratosis.
Conclusion
This observational study compares various photodermatoses with corresponding histological findings. Women in their second to fourth decade of life are more commonly affected by photodermatoses. Micro-papular and papular lesions are the predominant clinical presentation. The diagnosis of photodermatoses is primarily clinical; however, histopathological examination is necessary in ambiguous cases to exclude other differential diagnoses.
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