The skin can be damaged by many different factors such as physical, chemical, infectious, allergic, … Each different agent will cause different lesions such as erythema, papules, acne. water, scratches, lacerations or ulcers.
TYPES OF SKIN DAMAGE
The skin can be damaged by many different factors such as physical, chemical, infectious, allergic, … Each different agent will cause different lesions such as erythema, papules, acne. water, scratches, lacerations or ulcers.
There are two basic types of skin lesions:
– Primary injury
– Secondary injury
1. Primary skin lesions
1.1 Skin color changes
These are flat lesions on the skin surface, neither emerging nor penetrating such as:
– Inlaid red: pink or red, disappears when pressed, has many shapes and sizes. Red maculopapular caused by vasodilation, usually due to inflammation of the skin. Examples are measles, rubella, drug allergy erythema.
– Vascular macules: macules are formed due to vasodilation in the dermis. This macular can be acquired or congenital.
Hemorrhagic macules: caused by red blood cells leaking out of blood vessels. This inlaid will gradually fade through stages: starting pink, then crimson, blue then yellow and finally disappearing.
– Macular loss of pigment or called white macules such as vitiligo, albinism.
1.2 Liquid lesions
A bulging sac of the epidermis in which fluid is stored. Loose lesions include:
– Blisters: 1-2mm in size, containing water. Blisters can be on normal skin or on red skin. Blisters are seen in heat, eczema, leech, herpes, …
– Blister: is a bulging sac of the epidermis, containing water, 1-2cm in size. Blisters may contain serum, pus, or blood. Blisters can be subepidermal, as in pemphigus, or intraepidermal, as in Pemphigus vulgaris.
Pustule: is a bulging inner sac containing pus. Pustules can be located under the stratum corneum or under the epidermis, can be localized to the hair follicles such as pustular acne, folliculitis or not located in the hair follicles such as pustular psoriasis, sub-keratinous pustules such as bean pustules. seasonal, herpetic eczema.
1.3 Certain injuries
– Papules: raised bumps on the skin, size
– Department: round, raised on the skin surface, size <1cm, located in the middle, dermis. Many patients have lesions that are lumps such as fibroids, melanoma, capillary inflammation, …
– Tuber: is a firm, raised lesion on the skin surface, caused by cell infiltration in the superficial or deep dermis, common in diseases such as lupus tuberculosis, tuberous leprosy, tuberous syphilis III, …
– Papules: Tumors of papillary organization, warts appear due to proliferation of the papillary layer of the epidermis and infiltration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the dermis. There are many skin diseases with warts such as pustular dermatitis, warts, rice grains, …
– Node: is a firm lesion slightly raised above the surface of the skin, the surface is red or normal, due to cell infiltration in the middle and dermis.
Gum: is a firm, raised lesion on the skin the size of an apple or larger, due to cell infiltration in the middle and dermis layers. Gums progress in stages: hard, soft, burst pus, ulcer, scar.
2. Secondary skin damage
– Scaly skin: are thin slices of the stratum corneum separated from the epidermis or due to keratinization disorders. Scaling can be a physiological phenomenon (skin flaking in newborns), but it can also be a pathological cause. excessive sloughing of the stratum corneum.
– Scaly secretions: caused by the dried secretions that form. There are types of exudative scales such as serous scales, purulent scales, blood scales or blood + pus scales.
– Scratching the skin: due to scratching, scratching or after a superficial injury that loses part of the epidermis. When it heals, it leaves no scars.
– Slips: are very shallow lesions, lose part of the epidermis such as syphilis, herpes, leaving no scars when healed.
– Cracks: cracked palms, feet, cracks in the hamstrings, ankle folds, cracked edges in streptococcal dermatitis.
– Ulcers: due to skin loss to the dermis or dermis, leaving scars when healed. There are many diseases with ulcerative lesions such as necrotic ulcers, varicose ulcers, diabetic ulcers, etc.
– Skin atrophy: due to thinning of the epidermis or superficial dermis, flat with nacre, sometimes visible capillary network under the skin. The cause of skin atrophy is the degeneration of connective tissue or elastic tissue. Atrophic diseases such as atrophy of the skin after injection of corticosteroids, lichen atrophy, …
– Skin spots: is a group of skin with many colors associated with atrophy, dyspigmentation and vasodilation.
– Scar: a skin loss to the dermis, dermis, when healed will leave a scar. Scars can be flat to the skin surface, lower or higher than the skin surface.
Fibrosis: is a hard skin lesion that cannot be folded due to the thickening of collagen in the dermis. For example: focal or diffuse scleroderma, scleroderma of the extremities.