What Is Spongiotic Dermatitis?

Abstract

For the dermatology practitioner, the term dermatitis refers to a group of disorders that share features of papulovesicles in the acute phase, scaly patches in the subacute phase, and generally lichenified plaques in the chronic stage. For the skin pathologist, it refers to a group of disorders in which pathology is limited to the epidermis and papillary dermis and these are further divided into three main categories (spongiotic, psoriasiform, and interface) based on the most prominent feature of the disorder (epidermal edema, epidermal hyperplasia, and disturbance of the dermo-epidermal junction, respectively). Spongiotic dermatitis refers to a group of disorders that share intercellular edema of the epidermis. This is associated with exocytosis of lymphocytes and a papillary dermal perivascular infiltrate. Spongiotic dermatitis may be: allergic contact, atopic, nummular, stasis, photoinduced, and more. Certain histological clues may point to some forms of dermatitis over others.

When is spongiotic dermatitis not primary eczematous dermatitis? When could it represent dermatitic drug eruption, pityriasis rosea, photodermatitis, fungal infection, or mycosis fungoides?

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