Week Two - Overview of Dermatology Lesions

Question 1

What type of lighting helps distinguish a macule from a papule?

Answer 1

• Oblique lighting

Question 2

How do you distinguish between a purpura and a vascular extravasation?

Answer 2

• Use diascopy
  > Press a glass slide to the red lesion to see whether or not it blanches
  ^ If it stays red, it’s purpuric
  ^ If it blanches, it’s erythematous and due to a vascular dilatation

Question 3

A confluence of papules leads to the development of larger, usually flat-topped, circumscribed, plateau-like elevations known as ______.

Answer 3

• Plaques

Question 4

Plaques result from repeated rubbing of the skin, and most frequently develop in persons with _____.

Answer 4

• Atopy

Question 5

Nodules result from _____, _____, or _____ _____ in the dermis or subcutaneous tissue.

Answer 5

• Infiltrates
• Neoplasms
• Metabolic deposits

Question 6

Vesicles and bullae arise from a _____ at various levels of the skin, which may be within the ____ or at the _____ _____.

Answer 6

• Cleavage
• Epidermis
• Epidermal-dermal interface

Question 7

______ may develop when serum, blood, or purulent exudate dries on the skin surface.

Answer 7

• Crusts

Question 8

Which layers of skin are involved in an erosion vs an ulcer vs a fissure? Which of these lesions typically heals without a scar?

Answer 8

Ulcer
- Loss of epidermis and the upper papillary layer of the dermis

Erosion

• Defect only in the epidermis
• Heals without a scar

Fissure
- Usually only in the epidermis, but sometimes extends into the dermis