Incidence of Erythrasma in an Elderly Woman

Erythrasma is not a rare occurrence in elderly women. It was found in 33 or approximately 10% of 328 women 65 to 99 years old. The clinical picture of erythrasma in elderly female patients is frequently subtle and atypical. It is characterized by yellowish-brown or light-brown patches, fairly well limited, with slight scaling and without producing fluorescence. Wood's light was most useful in detecting erythrasma in elderly women because lesions of this disease are frequently invisible or barely visible by daylight or artificial light. If the lesions do not fluoresce they always become considerably darker which then makes them easier to detect.