Background: Lupus erythematosus (LE) is a heterogenous autoimmune disease marked by diverse patterns of autoantibody production that can affect one or more vital internal organs as well as skin. Skin is the second most commonly affected organ in patients with lupus erythematosus. Skin involvement may occur alone or as a part of serious systemic disease

Materials and Methods: A clinical non-interventional descriptive study was conducted in a tertiary care centre over a period of 1 year.

Aim:

1. To study the clinical patterns and histopathology of these clinical patterns of cutaneous lupus erythematosus.
2. To study the risk factors, all the required data were collected by clinical examination of patients.

Results: Thirty patients with clinical features of cutaneous lupus erythematosus were studied and the following observations were made. Patients with cutaneous LE ranged in age from 20-62 years. the male to female ratio was 1:5. Seventy percent of the patients were unemployed. Scaly rash was the most frequent complaint. Seventeen (56.7%) patients with cutaneous LE had systemic complaints. Majority of patients (26) had short duration illness of less than 1 year. Seventeen (56.7%) patients attributed sunlight as an exacerbating factor Chronic CLE (CCLE) was the most common form of cutaneous LE observed in this study. LE nonspecific lesions were observed in 53.3% patients with cutaneous LE. Among the 25 histopathologically diagnosed cases of classic CCLE, hyperkeratosis, follicular plugging and atrophy were present in 76%, keratotic plugging in 32%, acanthosis in 24% and hypergranulosis with parakeratosis in 4%.

Keywords: cutaneous lupus erythematosus, CCLE, SCLE, ACLE, histopathology.

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Dr Rony Mathew

Assistant Professor, Dept of Dermatology & Venereology,

Govt. Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram

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