[Sweet's syndrome in a young woman]

Sweet's syndrome is an uncommon and dramatic skin disease associated with systemic symptoms such as fever, headache and arthralgia. Since it is also accompanied by an increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate and leukocytosis, it may be confused with severe systemic infections and other systemic illnesses. We describe a 30-year-old woman who presented with typical features of the disease. They included high fever, headache, sore throat, increased sedimentation rate, and a painful violaceous, nodular and papular rash on her limbs and upper trunk. Histologic features included dense neutrophilic infiltration and edema of the dermis, with foci of leukocytoclasia, but without leukocytoclastic vasculitis. There was a dramatic repose to treatment with prednisone.