Posts Tagged Scabies
What Do You Know About Scabies (scabetic Eczema)-skin Disorders
Posted by admin in Skin Disorders on April 23, 2011
Diagnostic Hallmarks
Distribution: finger webs, elbows, axillary folds, buttocks, breasts, and penis
History of contagion (family members or sexual partner with evidence of similar disease)
Identification of the mites, feces, or ova in scrapings from lesions
Response to therapy
Clinical Presentation
Scabies is basically a vesicular disease but the intensity of itching leads to such vigorous scratching that vesicles are destroyed as quickly as they are formed. This results in a presentation that almost always appears predominantly eczematous in morphology. Careful examination in a suspected case usually does reveal an occasional intact oval or linear vesicle (burrow), but these are terribly easy to overlook. The width of scabetic burrows is about 1 mm, and the length is generally 1.5 to 3.0 mm. Inflarnmation is prominent in excoriated lesions but is variable around intact burrows.
The distribution of lesions is quite characteristic. Burrows and excoriated papules are most commonly found in the web spaces of the fingers, around the elbows, on the anterior axillary folds, and over the buttocks. The breasts in women and the shaft and glans of the penis in men are also frequently affected. In patients with chronic infestation, widespread involvement of the trunk and extremities may also be noted. The face, except occasionally in infants, is normally spared.
Initially, burrows and eczematous papules are few in number, isolated, and widely separated. The scattered nature and small size of the eczematous lesions is a valuable diagnostic clue during the first few weeks of infestation, but this feature is lost in well-established cases of many months duration.
A history of contagion is an important diagnostic feature. Therefore, patients should be queried about the presence of pruritic eruptions in family members, friends, and sexual partners. In instances where clinical suspicion is high, it is permissible to attempt confirmation of one’s diagnosis through a therapeutic trial of antiscabetic medication. Rapid response, as measured by abrupt cessation of itching, is tantamount to proof of diagnosis.
Identification of the mite in scrapings from lesions is theoretically desirable but is not always possible. In fact, scrapings carried out from any lesion other than an intact burrow are so rarely positive they are not worth the effort. When an intact burrow is present, the roof can be lifted off with a thin scalpel shave technique. This roof, together with material subsequently scraped from the base of the burrow, is then transferred to a microscope slide. A drop of immersion oil is placed over the scrapings, and a coverslip is applied. Examination under low power will regularly reveal mites, ova, or feces.
Atypical Manifestations. In a small number of patients a residuum of long-lasting, dome-shaped, erythematous, pruritic nodules remains after treatment has been completed. These papules and nodules are most commonly seen in young men, particularly around the waist and in the groin. These lesions do not contain live mites, instead, they apparently form as an immunologic response to scabetic antigenic material that remains after treatment. The lesions do eventually disappear but their resolution can be hastened by the intralesional injection of triamcinolone.
Under some circumstances (very poor hygiene, marked immunosuppression, or in institutionalized persons), scabetic infestation can become overwhelming, so that the entire body is involved in a generalized eczematous eruption. Such widespread infestation, sometimes severe enough to be termed exfoliative erythrodermatitis, has in the past been known as Norwegian scabies.
By: Robert Baird
About the Author:
Do you wish to know more about skin disorders help or dermatology problems? Then have a look at authors site on which you will also find beauty and skin care.
Eczematous Diseases of Hands-skin Disorders
Posted by admin in Skin Disorders on January 4, 2011
There are six conditions that must be considered in the differential diagnosis of hand eczema. These are dyshidrotic eczema, atopic dermatitis, allergic contact dermatitis, irritant contact dermatitis, scabies, and autoeczematization as a result of eczematous disease elsewhere.
The characteristic features of these diseases usually allow for identification of the specific disease responsible for the patient’s problem. These features become less recognizable, however, in patients with long-standing disease and in patients who happen to have two or more eczematous conditions a the same time. In instances where the diagnosis is unclear,it is sometimes helpful to clear the disease completely through the use of systemic steroids and then, when the steriods are stopped, watch for the evolution of typical features if the diseases recurs.
Dyshidrotic eczema is characterized by a history of preceding dyshidrosis. Thus, on questioning, patients will describe the onset of their disease as consisting of pinhead-sized, noninflammatory vesicles situated on the tips or sides of the fingers. Moreover, on examination, some of these minute noninflammatory vesicles can usually be found adjacent to or within the eczematous plaques. Often these vesicles are so closely set they lead to the development of larger, multiloculated bullae. As dyshidrosis becomes increasingly eczematized, there is extension of the vesicular process from the fingers on to the palms, and through the process of autoeczematization, there may also be extension of the eczematous process onto the dorsal surface of the fingers and hands. By the time the whole hand has become involved all evidence of the original, preceding vesicular disease may have disappeared, leaving the patient’s description of the original lesions as the only clue to the dyshidrotic nature of the problem.
Atopic dermatitis begins quite differently. There is no historical or visible evidence of a distinct, non inflammatory, vesicular phase. Instead, patients indicate that itching precedes all evidence of skin eruption. The moment scratching begins, however, there is the sudden appearance of a vigorous inflammatory reaction characterized by redness, swelling, weeping, crusting, and excoriation. These initial plaques of atopic dermatitis are found on the dorsal surface of the fingers and hands. Later in the course of the disease, varying degrees of autoeczematization sometimes lead to the development of eczematous lesions on the palms, wrists, and forearms. The itch-scratch cycle as defined is invariably present.
By: Robert Baird
About the Author:
Read more about skin problems, supplements blog, and also about fitness.
skin problems to deal with mites?
Posted by admin in Skin Disorders on February 26, 2010
dreams_wishes21 asked:
i have a friend that haas scabies what can she do to get it to go away ? anything will help
Kansieo.com
i have a friend that haas scabies what can she do to get it to go away ? anything will help
Kansieo.com