Equestrian Cold Panniculitis In Women

Abstract

<h3>To the Editor.—</h3> We were interested to see the report by Beacham et al on equestrian cold panniculitis in women. This condition is not infrequently seen in the United Kingdom and is not limited to young women who ride horses. We have seen these cold-induced, perniotic lesions in men, and they can occur in persons who ride other slow-moving vehicles that are open to the wind, cold, and rain, ie, tractors, milk delivery vans, and golf carts. Almost invariably, these lesions occur on the upper and lateral aspect of the thighs, and the persons wear tight-fitting pants that poorly insulate them from the cold. In our patients, the biopsy specimens of these lesions showed a perivascular, preponderantly lymphocytic infiltrate that involved not only the superficial vessels, but also those of the reticular dermis and subcutaneous fat.¹Findings from direct immunofluorescence microscopy studies¹have been normal, as have been most of