Livedo reticularis due to pellagra in a two year old child

Abstract

A two-year-old girl child was admitted with complaints of diarrhoea of one week duration in the paediatric ward. She was referred to the skin OPD for gradually progressive skin rashes on both lower limbs noticed since two days. Dermatological examination revealed finding of livedo reticularis. Dietary history revealed maize forming a significant portion of the child′s diet since the age of nine months. The child was treated with a course of Niacin in the form of Nicotinamide 50 mg twice a day for 4 weeks and the parents were advised not to give her maize in the diet. The skin lesions and diarrhoea regressed in duration of two weeks. This is probably the first time that a case of pellagra causing livedo is being reported, that too in a child.

Keywords

• Diarrhoea
• livedo reticularis
• niacin
• pellagra