Clinical study of cutaneous manifestations in neonates

Abstract

The neonatal period constitute the initial 4 weeks of extra-uterine life. A host of clinical manifestations occur in neonates varying from physiological to grossly pathological, hence it is necessary to differentiate between benign and clinically significant skin lesions among the newborn. It is important to be aware of the transient skin lesions in newborn and differentiate them from other serious conditions which will avoid unnecessary therapy to the neonates and the parents can be assured of good prognosis of these skin manifestations. Aims: 1) To study the various patterns of cutaneous manifestations occurring among the newborn. 2) To estimate the prevalence of physiological and pathological skin lesions among the new born. Materials and Methods: An Institutional based, prospective study was conducted in the department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy, Eluru, West Godavari district, A.P. 100 neonates born in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the same institution and having at-least one cutaneous manifestation were considered in this study. The study was conducted between the period of November 2011 to May 2013. Results: Of 100 neonates, 54 were males, 46 were females, of these, 89 were born at term, 9 were preterm, and 2 were post term. Of the cutaneous lesions in the newborn, physiological skin lesions were more common among all accounting for 57.0%, followed by eczematous eruptions 18.2%, transient non infective conditions 10.2%, birthmarks 9.1% and others 5.5% in decreasing order of frequency. Conclusion: This study of newborn skin provides information about normal variants occurring in neonatal period. It is important to be aware of the fact that most of the skin lesions in the newborn are transient and require no therapy. Keywords: Cutaneous lesions in neonate, Skin Marker, Transient eruptions, Pathological eruptions