Week 9 - Skin

Question 1

What is a patch?

Answer 1

A flat area of altered colour >0.5cm

Question 2

What is a plaque?

Answer 2

Palpable scaling raised lesion >0.5cm in diameter

Question 3

What’s a papule?

Answer 3

Solid raised lesion

Question 4

What is a nodule?

Answer 4

Solid raised lesion >0.5cm in diameter with a deeper component

Question 5

What is a vesicle?

Answer 5

Raised, clear fluid filled lesion

Question 6

What is a bulla?

Answer 6

Raised, clear fluid filled lesion >0.5cm in diameter

Question 7

What benign lesions can occur on the skin?

Answer 7

• skin tags
• moles
• cysts
• papillomas

Question 8

What are fibroepithelial polyps?

Answer 8

• common
• generally in middle age and older people
• neck, trunk, face and groin
• flesh coloured bag like lesion

Question 9

What are naevi?

Answer 9

-proliferation of melanocytes (pigment-producing cell)

Naevus cells within the:
-dermo-epidermal junction (junctional naevi)

• dermo-epidermal junction and dermis (compound naevi)
• just in dermis (intradermal naevi)

Question 10

What is a sebaceous cyst?

Answer 10

Clinical term encompasses 2 types of cysts:

• epidermoid cyst
• pilar cyst

-derived from invagination of epithelium

Question 11

What is seborrhoeic keratosis?

Answer 11

• middle aged and older people
• arise spontaneously
• trunk, head and neck

Question 12

What is a haemangioma?

Answer 12

• benign vascular tumours of the dermis
• tend to occur in children
• bluey red surface

Question 13

What malignant lesions can occur on the skin?

Answer 13

• basal cell carcinoma
• squamous cell carcinoma
• Bowen’s disease
• melanoma

Question 14

What is basal cell carcinoma?

Answer 14

• most common human cancer
• slow growing tumours
• rarely metastasise
• occur at sun exposed sites

Question 15

What is Bowen’s disease?

Answer 15

• precursor to squamous cell carcinoma
• epidermal dysplasia
• sun damage

Question 16

What is squamous cell carcinoma?

Answer 16

-second commonest skin tumour of sun-exposed sites in older people

Question 17

What is melanoma?

Answer 17

• fairly common
• arises in sun damaged skin
• can be very aggressive and spread widely

-early diagnosis means it can be removed

Question 18

What are the signs of melanoma?

Answer 18

A - asymmetry 
B - border irregular 
C - colour - variable pigmentation in lesion
D - diameter - mostly >6mm
E - enlarge

Question 19

Why may rashes occur on the skin?

Answer 19

• inflammatory skin reactions

- eczema (clinical term that encompasses many different conditions)

Question 20

What is psoriasis?

Answer 20

• commonly affects elbows, knees, scalp, lumbosacral area and glans penis
• can be associated with nail changes, arthritis, myopathy, enteropathy and spondylic joint disease
• well demarcated, salmon pink plaques with silver scaling

Question 21

What is scabies?

Answer 21

• common and very itchy
• caused by human scabies mites
• common in the young and the elderly

Question 22

How is scabies spread?

Answer 22

By direct skin to skin contact with someone who already has scabies

• mites are found mainly in the web spaces of the fingers and on the palms of the hands, the wrists, ankles and soles of feet
• burrows appear as small greyish lines on the skin

Question 23

When may the skin be involved in systemic disease?

Answer 23

• meningitis
• SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus)
• internal malignancy

Question 24

What is a macule?

Answer 24

A flat area of altered colour