A Prospective Observational Study to Evaluate the Incidence and Etiology of Facial Papules in Middle-Aged Female Patients Attending Dermatology OPD in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Face is an important area of concern in aspects of health and disease. Facial appearance of an individual provides primary identity to a person. Any lesions on the face provoke more anxiety and seeks early medical need. Facial papules are a common finding in dermatology OPD’s, wherein few are symptomatic while a vast majority of them are asymptomatic. Papules being an elevated solid lesion of skin less than 1 cm in diameter must be also evaluated based on shape, colour, umblication, distribution, configuration and presence of tenderness. Facial papules may be the presenting feature of several conditions, including inflammatory, photosensitive, infective and granulomatous disorders as well as benign and malignant neoplasms. The various differentials for papular facial disorders at the given age group will include rosacea, discoid lupus erythematosus, granulosisrubranasi, granulomatous perioral and facial dermatitis, lichenoid dermatitis, acne agminata, sarcoidosis, Jessner's lymphocytic infiltrate, papular solar elastosis and rarely, polymorphous light eruption.The differentiation between these entities requires clinical, histopathological and laboratory evaluation. Treatment options will include medical and surgical interventions. Medical management involves topical therapy and systemic drugs based on the aetiology . This includes keratolytics, retinoids, antifungals, antibiotics, vitamin D analogues and antimitotics. Surgical methods include radiofrequency ablation, cryotherapy, lasers, etc. Most of the cases are asymptomatic and the symptomatic cases seek medical attention mainly due to cosmetic concern. The objective of the study is to evaluate the incidence of different causes of facial papules in female patients attending Dermatology OPD in Chettinad hospital and research institute and to estimate their frequencies, duration, clinical significance and their effect on quality of life . Materials and Methods Women above 30 years attending the skin OPD at Chettinad hospital and research institute are subjected to a detailed history taking and dermatological examination. If diagnosed to have facial papules; a photographic documentation is done1. Further enquiry and examination is done to analyse the aetiological factors responsible for the occurrence of the facial papule. The recruited patients consenting for the study were thus subjected to full history taking, general dermatological examination and photographic documentation. Data entry was done on MS Excel and data analysis done in SPSS 22 version.