Clinical profile, etiology and histopathology of patients with erythroderma in South India

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Erythroderma is a generalised inflammatory disorder of skin manifesting with erythema and scaling affecting more than 90% of the skin surface. Several studies have highlighted the importance of biopsy in the diagnosis and management of erythroderma, while some others have found it to be of limited use.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> Thirty-six patients with erythroderma were enrolled in the study and a detailed history, clinical examination and relevant investigations including skin biopsy was done to find out the etiology.<strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Pre-existing dermatoses were the predominant cause (84%) contributed equally by psoriasis (42%) and eczemas (42%) and clinicopathologic correlation could be obtained in 30.55% of cases.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Our study showed that skin biopsy remains a valuable tool in the diagnosis of erythroderma.</p>