Journal of Clinical & Experimental Dermatology Research
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-9554
ISSN: 2155-9554
Zhiqiang Song, Wenchieh Chen, Yi You, Zhifang Zhai and Fei Hao
AcceptedAbstracts: J Clin Exp Dermatol Res
The prevalence of leprosy has been decreasing in the past decade, but new sporadic indigenous cases are successively reported throughout the world. The uncommon appearances of leprosy may confuse the dermatologists with little knowledge and vigilances about leprosy and lead to under-diagnosis and/or misdiagnosis. Here, two cases of borderline lepromatous leprosy presenting with figurate erythema were reported. These two cases are all women with multiple, slightly pruritic, annular to bizarre-shaped, edematous maculopapules and erythematous plaques on their arms and legs for three to six months, and were initially misdiagnosed as urticaria or erythema annulare centrifugum, but the treatment with oral antihistamines and topical corticosteroid creams was unsuccessful. Skin biopsy was performed on the skin lesions and histopathological examinations revealed multiple well-formed nodules composed of lymphocytes, histiocytes and macrophages surrounding vessels and nerves in the dermis. Acid fast staining showed numerous bacilli within the foamy cells. Based upon the clinical and histopathological characters, these patients were confirmed as borderline lepromatous leprosy. These misdiagnosed cases are presented here to emphasize that it is necessary for dermatologists to keep vigilances on sporadic leprosy cases with uncommon appearances.