Fourteen patients, 8 girls and 6 boys with trachyonychia have been reported. Their ages ranged from 5 to12 years; mean 8.5 years. All of them had retarded growth of nail plates with roughness. Fragility blackish discoloration, longitudinal ridging of all the 20 nails of fingers and toes. Six patients had thickening of the nail plates while 8 had thinning. In one patient each oil drop sign and splinter haemorrhages were seen; two patients each had associated lichen planus and psoriasis and one each atopic dermatitis, vitiligo and alopecia areata. Personal history of atopy was obtained in 6 patients. Nail biopsy carried out in 5 patients revealed nonspecific histology. Radiological examination of fingers and toes revealed no bony or joint abnormality. The nail changes remained almost static during a 4 year follow-up period.
Background: Although a number of epidemiological studies, showing incidence and prevalence of atopic dermatitis, were available, scant attention has been paid to the correlation between the parameters of the disease like severity, absolute eosinophil count and IgE level, which has been known to be associated inconsistently. Hence this study was undertaken. Methods: A total of 102 patients of atopic dermatitis, both children and adults, and 107 age matched controls were studied at the Pediatric Dermatology clinic, Institute of Child Health and department of Dermatology, AMRI-Apollo hospitals, Kolkata. Results: The average age of onset of atopic dermatitis was observed to be 4.55 years. Both the average absolute eosinophil count and IgE levels in patients of atopic dermatitis were significantly higher than that of the controls. Each of these parameters showed significant correlation with severity of the disease and showed a nonhomogeneous distribution reflected by significant association with personal history of bronchial asthma and family history of atopy, when both parents were atopic. Conclusions: Our study shows that clinical activity of the disease as recorded by the “SCORAD” index can be used as an indicator of the hematological abnormalities as well as to some extent as a prognostic indicator. Family history of atopy correlates with the hematological abnormalities only if both parents are involved and bronchial asthma is the only associated atopic condition which correlates with the parameters of the disease.
Abstract Background/Objectives Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH), a rare neoplasm of hematopoietic myeloid precursor cells, is clinically characterized by spontaneously resolving lesions to a progressive life‐threatening multisystem disorder. Diagnosing LCH in children is challenging as it mimics other skin disorders. This study describes the varied clinical presentation and disease course in children less than 18 years diagnosed with LCH. Methods We performed a retrospective observational study of all cases diagnosed with LCH presenting to a children's hospital in the last 26 years. Data on history, cutaneous and systemic examination, and laboratory evaluation performed, were recorded. Results A total of 126 children diagnosed with LCH were included in the study. There were 68% cases limited only to skin, and 32% children with multisystem involvement at the initial presentation. Scaly papules were the most common morphologic finding in skin. The skeletal system was the second most common organ system to be affected. Failure to thrive was a common symptom. Progression of skin to systemic involvement was seen in 27.9%. In 76.7%, skin lesions cleared over a period of 2 to 4 years. Complete remission was seen in 56.9% of children over a period of 3 to 7 years, while 8.1% children died of complicationsand 31.8% were lost to follow‐up. Conclusions Long‐term follow‐up in this study has shown cutaneous LCH without systemic involvement has a good prognosis. Skin involvement,along with failure to thrive, was the most common clinical presentation in our study. The skeletal system was the second most common organ system involved.