Vascular pattern in psoriasis - A dermoscopic study

 

 

Abstract              Background: Psoriasis is a common human skin disease which is seen worldwide, in all races, and in both sexes. It is a complex, chronic, multifactorial, inflammatory disease that involves hyperproliferation of the keratinocytes in the epidermis, with an increase in the epidermal cell turnover rate and dilatation of dermal papillary blood vessels. Classic presentation is well‑circumscribed, reddish and scaly papules and plaques typically on the elbows, knees and scalp, in addition to other cutaneous sites. A Dermoscope is a non-invasive, diagnostic tool which visualizes subtle clinical patterns and subsurface skin structures not normally visible to the unaided eye. Dermoscopic patterns of inflammatory skin diseases could be a valuable addition for the clinical assessment. Aim: To study various Vascular pattern of Dermoscopy in psoriasis. Materials and Methods: A total of sixty nine lesions of 51 patients with a definite diagnosis of psoriasis, based on either a typical clinical presentation of the disease or on his  topathologic confirmation were enrolled. Cases diagnosed clinically were included only in the availability of clinical images justifying a definite clinical diagnosis of psoriasis and the availability of a dermoscopic image of the lesions. Results: A total of fifty one patients were included in the study. Homogenous and regular vascular pattern was common among all the patients. Red dots (98.03%) were the most commonest dermoscopic findings followed by cork-screw patterned vessels (33.33%). Regularly distributed dotted vessels represented a constant finding in all psoriatic skin lesions in all body sites. Conclusion: Psoriasis shows specific Dermoscopic patterns that may aid their clinical diagnosis and certain combinations of dermoscopic features can reliably predict the diagnosis of psoriasis. In this study homogenous regular red dots were the constant feature observed among 50(98.03%) patients.

Key Word: Red dots, Cork-screw shaped vessels, Red-globules, Comma-shaped vessels, Hairpin-like vessels.