Cutaneous mimickers of physical child abuse: A brief overview

Child abuse is one of the medico-legal issues a physician may face during his/her clinical practice. It has devastating effects on both the child and family, especially psychological. If falsely identified as a child abuse case, it could result in detrimental consequences. Therefore, physicians must recognise and be able to rule out child abuse mimickers, which are often conditions that are mistakenly confused with true physical child abuse. Injuries like bruises and burns are common presentations and therefore it is important to consider cutaneous abuse mimics to avoid incorrect diagnosis of child abuse. This review article sheds light on the most common cutaneous conditions that can mimic physical child abuse, where patients present with patterns of various skin lesions that raise a suspicion of child abuse.