Abstract
The clinical differential diagnosis of acquired exfoliative erythroderma includes psoriasis, pityriasis rubra pilaris (PRP), atopic dermatitis, T cell lymphoma/Sezary syndrome, drug-induced erythroderma, scabies, and pemphigus foliaceous.
Some studies suggest that when a skin disorder becomes erythrodermic it loses some or many of its histological characteristics. It is recommended that two or more long biopsy specimens be obtained for the histological evaluation of patients with exfoliative erythroderma.
Crusted scabies and pemphigus foliaceous are easy to confirm histologically (multiple mites and acantholysis, respectively). Dermatitis, psoriasis, PRP, and drug hypersensitivity syndrome share acanthosis, parakeratosis, and a superficial lymphocytic infiltrate. Differentiating among them may be difficult. Correlation with history and physical findings is essential.
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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
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Mutasim, D. (2015). Exfoliative Erythroderma. In: Practical Skin Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14729-1_26
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14729-1_26
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