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Published on: December 15, 2011
Erythroderma in children
Rashmi Sarkar1, Vijay Kumar Garg
1Department of Dermatology, Maulana Azad Medical College and Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi, 110 002, India. rashmisarkar@yahoo.com
Insights
Pediatric erythroderma, a severe skin condition, is often caused by infections, genetic disorders, or inflammatory conditions. Early diagnosis and supportive care are crucial for managing this potentially life-threatening illness in children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Dermatology
- Clinical Medicine
Background:
- Erythroderma is well-documented in adults but understudied in children.
- Pediatric erythroderma presents significant diagnostic and management challenges due to its severity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the causes, diagnostic features, and management strategies for childhood erythroderma.
- To highlight the differential diagnoses and etiological factors in pediatric erythroderma.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of studies on pediatric erythroderma.
- Analysis of etiological data from Indian studies on neonatal, infantile, and childhood erythroderma.
Main Results:
- In neonates/infants, infections (40%), ichthyosiform erythroderma (25%), atopic dermatitis (15%), and seborrheic dermatitis (10%) were common causes.
- In childhood erythroderma, drugs (29%), genodermatoses (18%), psoriasis (18%), and staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (18%) were leading causes.
Conclusions:
- Childhood erythroderma has diverse etiologies, requiring careful diagnostic evaluation.
- Management is primarily supportive, focusing on correcting systemic imbalances.
Abstract:
Although erythroderma is a well-recognized entity in the adult age groups and has been studied by various authors, there is a paucity of studies on erythroderma in the pediatric age group. It poses a greater challenge to the dermatologist and pediatrician because of its potential life threatening nature. In a study conducted by us in a large Indian hospital to delineate the causes of neonatal and infantile erythroderma, the causes identified were infections (40%), ichthyosiform erythroderma (25%), atopic dermatitis (15%), infantile seborrheic dermatitis (10%) and unidentified (10%). In another study of childhood erythroderma, etiologically, drugs (29%) showed the highest incidence, followed equally (18%) by genodermatoses, psoriasis and staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (SSSS). The management of childhood erythroderma is mainly supportive with correction of the hematologic, biochemical and metabolic imbalance if required. In this review, the causes of childhood erythroderma, the clinical features useful to the diagnosis and management are discussed.
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