Dermoscopy in the Diagnosis of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

Abstract

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a protozoan infectious disease. Dermoscopy is a noninvasive diagnostic tool that has been applied to several skin diseases, including infestations. Objectives: To determine the dermoscopic patterns of CL lesions and to investigate whether a relationship exists between dermoscopic characteristics and the disease duration, localization, and type of CL lesions. Methods: Seventy-nine patients (48 male, 31 female) from Hatay, Turkey, were enrolled in the study and a dermoscopic evaluation was performed on 139 lesions. Images of CL lesions were taken via polarized light contact dermoscopy. Chi-square and Fisher exact tests were used for statistical analyses and P values 6 months. Hairpin vessels were prevalent in the plaque and nodulo-ulcerative type of lesions. Dotted vessels were most commonly seen in the plaque type (47.4%) of lesions. Conclusions: Generalized erythema, yellow tears, and starburst-like patterns, as well as linear irregular, hairpin, comma-shaped, and arborizing vessels, were the most commonly detected dermoscopic features of CL lesions. We suggest that the presence of these features can be helpful when diagnosing CL lesions by dermoscopy.

Keywords

• dermoscopy
• leishmaniasis
• vascular
• cutaneous