Cutaneous manifestations in renal transplant recipients

Out of 105 renal transplant recipients 100 had skin lesions: 55% iatrogenic, 74% infectious, 12% precancerous or cancerous and 4% miscellaneous. Many of these lesions were at least in part transient, and steroid-related skin lesions became less frequent as years progressed. The more frequent infections were the fungal ones, followed by viral and bacterial infections with different patterns of onset. All the precancerous lesions appeared late and were almost exclusively represented by actinic keratoses; 2 evolved into squamous cell epitheliomata. 2 patients died due to Kaposi's sarcoma and melanoma. The high incidence of skin cancers in transplanted patients and the rapid evolution of dyskeratoses into spinaliomas warrants close dermatological surveillance.