Skin Surgery JC081: Skin Ulcers: Skin And Subcutaneous Lesions, Skin Cancer Flashcards
Skin and SC lesions
- Common
- Patients’ worries
—> unknown nature
—> malignancy
—> appearance
Diagnosis:
- Sometimes obvious
- History + P/E follow
- Regional exam + Systemic review as indicated
- Lesion may represent an ***occult systemic problem
History taking of Skin + SC lesions
- Onset
- Progression
- Pain
- Discharge / Bleeding / Ulcer
P/E of Skin + SC lesions
- Site, Size, Shape, Colour
- Consistency, Surface, Border
- **Tenderness, **Temperature (infection, inflammatory)
- ***Pulsatility, Emptying (vascular lesion)
- ***Skin / Deep fixation
- ***Transillumination (cystic lesions)
Management of Skin + SC lesions
- Observation / Reassurance
- Excision / Destruction (e.g. shave, liquid N2)
- ***Excisional biopsy (suspicious lesions)
- ***Incisional biopsy +/- Definitive treatment (unknown nature)
- ***Wide excision +/- Reconstruction (malignant lesions)
- Radiotherapy
Skin structure
- Epidermis
- 3-5 cells thick
- Impermeable stratum corneum - Dermis
- 0.8-2.5mm thick (depends on location)
- fibrous + tough - Hypodermis
- indistinct loose fibrofatty layer
- contains ***adnexal structures (vessels, hair follicles, sebaceous glands, sweat glands) - SC fat
***DDx of Skin + SC lesions
- Epidermis
Benign:
- Skin tags
- **Warts
- **Seborrhoeic keratosis
- ***Keratoacanthoma
Premalignant:
- Solar keratosis
- Bowen’s disease
- Erythroplasia of Queyrat
Malignant:
- **SCC
- **Basal cell carcinoma
- Epidermal-Dermal region (Melanocytic lesion)
- Benign pigmented naevi
- **Malignant melanoma (*lethal) - Dermis
- Pyogenic granuloma
- Histiocytoma
- Keloid
- Secondary carcinomas
- Kaposi’s sarcoma - Skin appendages
- **Epidermoid (sebaceous) cyst
- **Dermoid cyst
- Pilonidal sinus
- Benign appendage tumour - Hypodermis / Deeper tissues
- Lipoma
- Liposarcoma
- **Neurofibroma + Sarcoma
- **Neurofibromatosis
- Schwannoma
- Deeper lesions e.g. ganglion - Vascular origin
- Campbell de Morgan spots (aka Cherry angioma, Senile haemangioma)
- Spider naevi
- Angioma
- Glomus tumour of digits
Verruca vulgaris (Common warts) (+ SpC Revision)
- Multiple papular skin-coloured lesions
- Irregular thickened keratinised (warty) top
- Caused by ***HPV
- Related to trauma, on hand / foot
- Contagious + often multiple
- Poor immunity —> Multiple viral warts
- Brown / gray with a rough surface (***Warty spikes)
- Plantar warts: **Flattened + **Painful
- Genital warts: Soft + **Fleshy (*Condylomata acuminata)
- Can recur after treatment
Treatment:
1. Heat cautery
2. Cryosurgery / Cryotherapy
3. Laser (CO2)
4. Surgery (for persistent / recurrent cases)
Corn + Callouses
- Massive thickening of ***stratum corneum
- Due to chronic trauma / irritation
- Corn: ***smaller, well marginated, square-shouldered
- Callouses: ***larger, more diffused, slope-shouldered
- Management: removal of irritation, paring, keratolytic agent (10-20% ***salicylic acid)
Common cystic lesions (+ SpC Revision)
- Epidermoid cyst (Sebaceous cyst)
- true cyst (epithelial lining)
- ?hair follicle origin
- spherical, **attached to skin (always **mobile), overlying **punctum
- contains cheesy **keratin material **NOT sebum
- may get **infected (red, swollen, tender)
- multiple: consider ***Gardner’s syndrome (associated with osteoma, fibromas, intestinal fibromatoses, lipomas, leiomyomas, polyposis coli)
- complications: infection, sebaceous horn (sebaceous content keep forming without being removed then dried up)
- management: Excision - Implantation dermoid
- epidermal fragment (by penetrating injury) driven into dermis
- lined by **epidermis producing keratin material
- contains white amorphous material
- tensely cystic (continuous proliferation of epithelium)
- history of **trauma + presence of scar
- common sites on fingers
- management: Excision (to avoid infection) - Other epidermoid cysts:
Milia
- small 1-2mm epidermoid cysts on ***face
Pilar cyst
- trichilemmal cyst / wen
- ***slow-growing firm cyst on the scalp
Steatocystoma multiplex
- true sebaceous cyst —> contains ***sebum
-
**Dermoid cyst (sequestration dermoid)
- **congenital cystic lesions growing slowly
- occurs at ***embryonic fusion line regions (e.g. midline of scalp, external angle of eye, lower mandible)
- contains keratin, hair, sebaceous glands etc.
- management: excision
Keratotic lesions (+ SpC Revision)
- Seborrhoeic keratosis (Basal cell papilloma / Seborrhoeic wart / Senile wart)
- common in **elderly
- **brownish-black, raised, well-marginated
- **plaque-like papules, “stuck-on”, square-shouldered
- feels **waxy + irregular
- proliferation of ***basal cells of epidermis
- face, neck, chest wall
- management: observe, cryotherapy, curettage, shaving, excision - Actinic keratosis (Solar keratosis, Senile keratosis)
- **sun-damaged skin by UV, in exposed parts
- dry, scaly, crusty top, erythematous based
- early lesions: flat, roughened / scaly papules (which could just be palpable)
- hyperkeratosis + acanthosis (i.e. thickening of skin) —> **pre-malignant
- excision
- if multiple: excision, curettage, cryosurgery, 5FU creams - Keratoacanthoma (Molluscum sebaceum)
- from squamous cell of hair follicles
- same area as BCC
- can be **indistinguishable from BCC
- **dome / nodular-shaped, flesh-coloured
- **central crater filled with **keratin plug (Look like tumour central ulceration)
- natural history: **rapid growth for a few weeks —> static for a few months —> **involution spontaneously, leaving an ugly scar
- ***?variant of SCC
- management: excisional biopsy, ?observation, ?RT
Naevi
Developmental abnormalities: Hyperplasia of incompletely differentiated tissue elements
Types:
1. Melanocytic naevus (Mole)
2. Strawberry naevus (Infantile haemangioma)
3. Sebaceous naevus (Naevus of Jadassohn)
- Melanocytic naevus (Mole)
- Very common, benign
- Depends on location of naevus cells:
1. Junctional (child, flat, darkly pigmented)
2. Compound (younger adult, raised, variable pigmentation)
3. Intradermal (older adult, dome-shaped, deep seated, lighter / flesh-coloured)
4. Congenital (giant / hairy) (big, hairy, dark, raised, thick (**risk of malignant change))
5. **Dysplastic - uncommon in Asians, usually multiple, occasionally solitary
- irregular border + speckled pigmentations
- 2 major groups:
—> Sporadic: Caucasians, fair skin, poorly tanned, excessive sunlight exposure with freckles etc.
—> Familal: Dysplastic naevus syndrome, run in families, uncommon, up to 400x lifetime risk of malignant change
6. Others (blue, Spitz, halo etc) - risk of malignant changes very small except:
—> Dysplastic naevus (esp. with family / personal history)
—> Giant congenital melanocytic naevus (“bathing trunk”, life-long surveillance)
—> >50, >2mm size - DDx: **Melanoma, **BCC, ***Seborrhoeic keratosis
- when in doubt —> Excisional / Incisional biopsy
Dermatofibroma (Histiocytoma, Sclerosing angioma)
- Firm skin nodule, 0.5-3 cm
- Fibrosis + Vascularity + Fe pigmentation
- Benign
- ***History of trauma / insect bite
- Deep reddish-brown
- ?Histiocytic origin
- DDx: ***Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (malignant)
Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP)
- **locally aggressive
- painless, indurated plaque with irregular nodules
- skin-coloured, border not well defined
- ?fibroblastic origin, ?malignant variant of DF
- infiltrative histologically with cords / nests of cells invading into adjacent soft tissue
- prone to **local recurrence, **seldom metastasise
- management: **wide excisional margin +/- RT
Neurofibroma
From supporting ***fibroblasts of peripheral nerves
(- Neurilemmoma = Schwannoma (from neurilemmal cells, encapsulated, lobulated firm tumour))
- Solitary:
- SC, **tender, **firm nodule, ***mobile laterally - Multiple:
- sessile / pedunculated, skin-coloured / brownish, well-circumscribed
Neurofibromatosis
- AD inheritance
- NF-1, NF-2 (depending on clinical features, genes)
- Multiple lesions of different sizes, ***cafe au lait pigmentations
- ***Acoustic neuroma (type 2)
- deformities / disfigurement
-
**possible malignant change
(- **Plexiform NF: skin thickened with foldings, myxfibromatous degeneration, sporadic / familial)