A case of necrolytic acral erythema / 中华皮肤科杂志

ABSTRACT

A 25-year-old female patient presented with itchy rashes on her feet for 10 years. Skin examination showed dark red plaques with clear boundaries, whose surfaces were covered with grey-brown scales, on the dorsum of toes and adjacent dorsum of the feet, the extensor aspect of the right ankle and the left Achilles tendon. Laboratory tests revealed that serum anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody was negative and HCV-RNA quantity was normal. Histopathological examination showed epidermal hyperkeratosis with parakeratosis, irregularly thickened spinous layer, scattered dyskeratotic cells and necrotic keratinocytes in the middle and upper spinous layer, focal liquefaction degeneration of basal cells, dilatation of small blood vessels in the superficial and middle dermis, and perivascular infiltration of a small number of lymphocytes. The patient was diagnosed with necrolytic acral erythema without hepatitis C. After 2-month treatment, the skin lesions completely regressed, and hyperpigmentation remained.