A 63-year-old Caucasian man presented with a 4-month history of disseminated asymptomatic reddish-brown papulonodular lesions. A skin biopsy showed dermal infiltration with CD68 histiocytes, predominantly with eosinophilic cytoplasm, some with a ground-glass cytoplasm, and a small number of giant cells. The diagnosis of multiple cutaneous reticulohistiocytosis was made. Bone marrow immunophenotyping due to peripheral blood lymphocytosis revealed the presence of a monoclonal population of CD3 , CD8 CD57 large granular lymphocytes. The present case suggests the coexistence of multiple cutaneous reticulohistiocytosis with an underlying disorder.

EditorPorphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) is the most common type of porphyria worldwide and is classified in three categories: sporadic type I, familial type II and the extremely rare type III. 1 Many predisposing factors have been associated with the clinical manifestation of PCT. Amongst them well recognized are: alcohol abuse, oestrogen replacement therapy, iron overload, haemodialysis, viral infections (hepatitis C, hepatitis B, HIV virus), exposure to polychlorinated hydrocarbons and inherited mutations in the HFE gene concerning classic haemochromatosis. 2-4 Beta thalassaemia major (TM) is a clinical entity with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations as a result of life-long transfusion-dependent anaemia. Interestingly, patients suffering TM manifest several of PCT's predisposing factors as a result of their underlying disease ª