2/ First things first, do you mind telling us who you are?
3/Let's begin: Beau’s lines! Transverse depression across the nail. Means the nail briefly stopped growing and started again.
Seen weeks after nail injury! Or, if it's seen on multiple nails, ask about febrile illness (like post #covid19) or stressors like SJS or chemotherapy.
4/ If the injury is bad enough, the nail(s) will peel off, known as onychomadesis.
In kids a common cause of onychomadesis is:
5/ Correct answer is: Hand Foot Mouth Disease!!
Next up- Muehrcke’s lines! White transverse lines seen in chronic hypoalbuminemia such as nephrotic syndrome, liver disease or malnutrition.
6/ But wait, did you know that the location of findings can clue you into different etiologies?!
Splinter hemorrhages closer to the lunula (white half moon at proximal end) are more closely correlated with SYSTEMIC DISEASE like endocarditis, while distally are likely TRAUMATIC.
7/
In addition to location, COLOR can tip you off too!
Proximal white subungual onychomycosis is a fungal infection type more commonly seen in those with HIV or other immunodeficiency. Seeing this should prompt testing for HIV.
8/
Not all white discoloration of the nail is fungal! The differential for onycholysis ➜ or lifting of the nail, is long but includes thyroid disease, amyloidosis, and multiple myeloma.
9/ What if your whole nail is a different color.... like...Yellow!
Which specialty might need to see a yellow nail syndrome patient?
10/ PULMONOLOGY!
Yellow nail syndrome presents with slow nail growth, no lunula, lymphedema, and chronic respiratory disease such as bronchiectasis or pleural effusions. Nails can give you so much information about systemic processes! 👇👀
11/
Terry’s nails are seen in patients with cirrhosis, chronic renal failure, diabetes, and CHF. There is leukonychia (white) of the entire nail except for pink at at the tip. No lunula. However, they can also just be seen in normal aging!
2/ You know how we say that everything could be sarcoid? Well, HSV-1/HSV-2 (which I'll refer to as herpes for this #thread) would be a close 2nd, ESPECIALLY on the inpatient service.
While HSV-1 is usually thought to be oral and HSV-2 genital, this certainly is NOT always true.
3/ The class exam finding for herpes is the "dew drop on a rose petal." In clinical speak, that would be a vesicle on an erythematous base. But often we don't see the vesicle intact.
For ex, the photo above shows intact vesicles, whereas here, we just see the resultant crust.
Among BOTH males and females in the US, how common is melanoma?
2/ Melanoma is the 6th most common malignancy (that's tracked) for BOTH men & women. Basal cell carcinoma is actually the MOST common cancer in the US, but we don't track it.
While melanomas are 6th, in certain groups (eg: women age 25-30), it is the #1 cause of cancer death!
3/ So melanoma is deadly, especially in certain age groups. But something peculiar is happening too. @AdeAdamson recently spoke at @MassGeneralNews about this interesting finding 👉 melanoma diagnosis is increasing, but melanoma death is decreasing.
AKA: "How a dermatologist approaches a rash!"
pc:@AADskin
2/ So what exactly is a reaction pattern? It's an organizational way to think about rashes so that we can bucket them. There are FIVE main reaction patterns:
3/ It's PAPULOSQUAMOUS! The name means it's papular (raised) with scale. The prototypical rash for these is psoriasis, which is that 1st photo! Notice how in darker skin, the erythema of psoriasis is harder to see!
2/
An important point to start:
Distribution is LEAST important in the skin exam. Primary & secondary lesions, configuration & scale are all better in informing our DDx.
I tell my learners that if confused about a rash, pretend it's elsewhere on the body & see if that helps.
3/
Also - throughout this #tweetorial, I will try to display skin disease in lighter & darker skinned patients side by side. Remember in darker skin, erythema is harder to see, so I hope this highlights the point!
A question: In tweet 1, what distribution is shown in the photo:
2/ Since this is the 3rd installment in the #Derm101 series, remember that if you haven't already, you might want to check out the first two #tweetorials on skin morphology.