Dermatologic emergencies in neonatal medicine

Numerous skin lesions can be seen in a newborn,1,2 even in the setting of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs),3 and the majority require an urgent diagnosis. The purpose of the clinical workup is to suspect an infection, which must be treated on a presumptive basis, or to diagnose a noninfectious dermatosis. Some of these neonatal dermatoses are of clinical signicance and various severity, others are benign and transient. In this latter case, a diagnosis is urgent to spare useless investigations and therapy, and to reassure the parents.