Author's posts

Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the skin characterised by a relapsing and remitting course. It manifests as pink, scaly, raised lesions on the elbows, knees, lower back and scalp along with certain nail changes like pitting, discolouration, subungual hyperkeratosis and onycholysis in about 25-50% of the cases. In 5-10% of patients, the disease …

Continue reading

Eczema

Eczema is the most common skin condition seen in day-to-day practice. It is a pattern of inflammatory response (dermatitis) of the skin characterised by itching, redness, flaking of the skin and raised, fluid filled lesions (papules and vesicles). The condition may be induced by a wide variety of external and internal factors acting alone or …

Continue reading

Skin Growths

Common tumors/growths that are come across on the face and trunk are: Benign: Seborrhoeic keratosis Dermatosis papillosa nigra Skin tags (acrochordon) Warts Melanocytic naevi (moles) Cherry angioma Syringoma (Sweat gland tumor) Malignant: Basal cell carcinoma Squamous cell carcinoma Malignant melanoma Seborrhoic Keratosis: It is a common, benign tumor of the top layer (epidermis) of the …

Continue reading

Nail Disorders

Common problems affecting the nail unit (nail and the skin around and under the nail) are: Paronychia: It is the painful swelling of the nail fold; it can be acute or chronic. Acute paronychia: Usually caused by bacterial infection following trauma to the nail folds Chronic paronychia: Caused by fungal infection; secondary to the destruction …

Continue reading

Sweat Disorders

Excessive sweating (Hyperhydrosis), bad body odour (Bromhydrosis) and colouring of sweat (chromhydrosis) are common sweat gland related problems. Hyperhydrosis can be generalized or localized to palms, soles and axillae. Generalised Hyperhydrosis: There is a marked physiologic variation in the amount of sweating from person to person. Commonly, generalised hyperhydrosis is seen during attacks of fever; …

Continue reading

Xerosis

Water is essential to maintain skin plasticity and barrier integrity. Xerosis or dryness of the skin is the result of decreased water content in the stratum corneum which leads to abnormal desquamation of the corneocytes (top-most layer of the skin). For the skin to appear and feel normal, the water content of this layer should …

Continue reading

Ageing Skin

Aging is a dynamic process; as we age several changes occur in our skin. These changes are induced by either intrinsic or extrinsic factors. Intrinsic aging is a natural process of everyone’s skin and the severity of some elements of intrinsic aging have genetic basis allowing some people’s skin age more than others. However the …

Continue reading

Pigmentation

Pigmentation disorders are disfiguring and disturbing. Hyperpigmented patches in the form of lentigines, melasma, post-acne pigmentation and peri-orbital hypermelanosis are the ones that are commonly come across. Lentigines: These are small, 2-5mm size, dark brown to tan coloured lesions seen on the skin. They can occur both on the sun-exposed and sun-protected skin. In the …

Continue reading

Hair Loss

Hair loss is a very common problem and the concern a patient shows for hair fall is usually out of proportion to the magnitude of hair loss. When the patient is convinced of hair loss, even normal loss of 50 to 100 per day causes anxiety. Therefore reassurance forms the mainstay of management of hair …

Continue reading

Dandruff

Flaking of the skin on the scalp is called dandruff. It is a papulosquamous disorder with distinctive distribution and characteristic morphology. Severe variety of dandruff, characterised by redness, scaling and itching, is called seborrhoic dermatitis [SD]. It affects about 3-5% of general population, but the life time incidence may be much higher. Men are more …

Continue reading