Dermatological Emergencies

Rajesh Verma, Biju Vasudevan, Rajesh Verma, Biju Vasudevan

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781351165020
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Diseases & Allergies

'Dermatological Emergencies' aims to cover aspects of situations and their management when they present in a Dermatology setup. This includes severe drug reactions, bullous disorders, erythroderma, infections, vasculitis and systemic emergencies presenting with skin signs. This book guides the reader to recognize such emergencies, helps to approach the initial phase of management, identifies the investigations, thus leading to a holistic management of the scene. Case scenarios are used in all chapters with logical flow of text, flowcharts, algorithms and representative clinical and laboratory images for better understanding of the readers.

Key Features

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• Details all dermatological emergencies

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• Discusses manifestation of these emergencies with unique algorithms and flowcharts

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• Examines case scenarios for first-hand experience

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• Consists of Do's and Don'ts for effective management of cases

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• Uses high quality clinical images for clarity

Part 1

Introduction to Dermatological Emergencies

Ankan Gupta

1Dermatological emergencies: What the term encompasses and key features in their diagnosis

Indrashis Podder and Biju Vasudevan

2Acute skin failure

S.S. Vaishampayan, Suneel Singh Senger, Radha Ramesh Lachhiramani, and Ankan Gupta

3Dermatology intensive care unit: Concept and requirements

Sukriti Baveja and Anwita Sinha

1

Dermatological emergencies: What the term encompasses and key features in their diagnosis

Indrashis Podder and Biju Vasudevan

Background

Etiology

Etiology based on clinical presentation

Approach to diagnosis

Conclusion

References

Background

Dermatology has traditionally been considered to be an outpatient-centered specialty, with very few emergencies and lethal conditions; so the term dermatological emergencies may seem like an oxymoron. However, there are several life-threatening dermatological conditions that may become lethal in about 8% of cases, unless adequate emergency care (prompt management and monitoring in the intensive care unit) is provided, contrary to popular belief [1]. Although dermatologists may encounter several such conditions in their career, proper awareness of them is still lacking in many parts of the world.

Recently, most of these conditions have been incorporated under the broad term acute skin failure, where there is extensive structural disruption and total functional impairment of the skin [2,3]. Acute skin failure is an acute emergency characterized by aberration of thermoregulation, fluid electrolyte imbalance, loss of proteins resulting in malnutrition, and failure of the mechanical barrier to prevent entry of infective organisms and other foreign materials. Thus, prompt diagnosis and emergency intervention are needed to revive the patient. Although this condition is as severe as other organ dysfunctions, viz. cardiac, renal, pulmonary, or hepatic failure, this condition is still not well known, and the need for intensive care in dermatology is often overlooked. This entity is discussed in detail in a separate chapter. The aim of the current chapter is to provide a brief introduction to these different dermatological emergencies.

Etiology

Several conditions may present as ...