Dermatological emergencies – part 2

This is the second in the two-part article on dermatological emergencies. In this article we will discuss the second two of the four major categories of dermatological emergencies, namely inflammatory ‘rashes’ and infections. Erythroderma is a disease process in which most (>90%), and sometimes all, of the skin is involved in erythematous inflammation, resulting in massive scaling. Some causes of erythroderma are: eczema (atopic, contact allergies, seborrhoeic); psoriasis; drug eruptions (allopurinol, sulfonamides, anticonvulsants, penicillins, imanitib); cutaneous lymphomas and Sézary syndrome; and others, such as pityriasis rubra pilaris, icthyosiform erythrodermas, severe dermatophytosis and infestations.