Diagnosis of main rashes in children

Abstract

There are countless skin lesions that can bring the small patient to the consultation. Sometimes the appearance of the lesions is highly suggestive of a disease, sometimes the anamnesis is the one that helps us significantly in establishing the diagnosis. For maximum accuracy in establishing the diagnosis and therapy, the consultation is mandatory to be complete. We will take into account the appearance and localization of the rash, the clinical evolution and associated symptoms, such as pruritus or fever, localization with endemic diseases such as chicken pox, for example, residing in unhealthy conditions (increases the possibility of having scabies, pediculosis, bacterial, fungal or viral infections). The morphology and distribution of the lesions are the key features that help to establish the diagnosis. Sometimes lab tests or even skin biopsies may be needed. Any skin lesion is accompanied by the concern of the parents, but also of the children, and in the case of adolescents the worries of being excluded from the social group may arise. The term dysmorphophobia describes the irrational, persistent, pathological fear of becoming deformed, centered on the illusion of total or partial modification of the body pattern(1) and this condition is increasingly encountered in medical practice.