ABOUT VGRD

Founded in 2000, Virtual Grand Rounds in Dermatology (VGRD) is a gathering place for dermatologists the world over to meet with one another and share interesting and/or challenging patients. In addition, we welcome all other health care practitioners with an interest in cutaneous disorders.  One may want to ask a question about diagnosis or therapy, present an interesting clinical photo or post a photomicrograph. We are a group of clinical and academic dermatologists who believe that web-based teledermatology can be both personally and professionally enriching.

Digital photography makes it possible to post clinical and microscopic images with ease. There are a dizzying number of cameras to choose from. The site creators will help you with advice here if you want.  In the past few years, smart phones have improved to the point where their images are more than acceptable.

Even if one lives in a city with a major medical center it is often difficult to get one's patients to Grand Rounds. And if one does, the turnout and discussion may be disappointing. VGRD is always available. You can post a message at 6:00 p.m. in Boston, Henry Foong may see it at 6:00 a.m. in Ipoh, Malaysia as he sits down at his home computer. Often, you will have received a few suggestions or comments when you log on the next morning.

VGRD has been a virtual consultative and collegial community for over 15 years. John Halle, the 16th Century English physician/poet, penned these perceptive words about the consultation in a long forgotten tract:

    When thou arte callde at anye time,

    A patient to see:

    And dost perceave the cure to grate,

    And ponderous for thee:

    See that thou laye disdeyne aside,

    And pryde of thyne own skyll:

    And think no shame counsell to take,

    But rather wyth good wyll.

    Get one or two of experte men,

    To helpe thee in that neede;

    To make them partakers wyth thee

    In that work to procede....

Halle's words guide us as we gather 500 years later in a consultative community the likes of which he probably could not have fathomed. So, let us "laye disdeyne aside,/ And pryde of [our] own skyll:/ And think no shame counsell to take,/ But rather wyth good wyll" join us in this global community of peers to help our patients and educate each other and ourselves.

Butterfly Rash

The patient is a 34 year-old man with a two year history of a facial eruption.

Granulomatous Rosacea

A 34-year-old sociologist presented for evaluation of forehead lesions, which have been present for about 2 years.  These began about a year after her daughter's birth.  Before that, she was on oral contraceptives and was fine, but she has not been on any hormonal birth control since then.  She saw another dermatologist and was treated with topicals, a SilkPeel, Tretinoin.  She also took doxycycline for 2 – 4 weeks. Nothing helped.  She is anxious about her appearance. 

O/E:   The examination shows a pleasant, outgoing woman.  She has a somewhat pebbly appearance to the forehead with many, mostly not inflammatory discrete and confluent submillimeter papules.  There were a few erythematous papules.

Clinical Photos:

Initial Diagnosis:  I considered an acneiform eruption.  A 4 mm punch biopsy was performed.

Pathology:  Thanks to Assistant Professor Hye Jin Chung, MD from Boston University Skin Pathology for kindly providing these beautiful photomicrographs.
There is a moderate and superficial perivascular and perifollicular infiltrat.  Focal granulomas formation is noted.
                          

Presumptive Final Diagnosis: Granulomaous Rosacea
  

Discussion:  Is this really a subset of rosacea, or is it an acneiform disease sui generis? Clinically, it does not look like rosacea and it appears to be defined by dermatopathologists who only see small plugs of skin.  Similarly, perioral dermatitis is an acneiform disorder of uncertain etiology, but the diagnosis is strictly clinical.

References:

1. Lee GL, Zirwas MJ. Granulomatous Rosacea and Periorificial Dermatitis: Controversies and Review of Management and Treatment. Dermatol Clin. 2015 Jul;33(3):447-55.
Abstract: Granulomatous rosacea and periorificial dermatitis are common skin conditions affecting the face. This article examines the historical origin, causes, clinical presentation, and management strategies for these entities.  Link to Full Text.

2. Omar Khokhar and Amor Khachemoune. A Case of granulomatous rosacea: Sorting granulomatous rosacea from other granulomatous diseases that affects the face. Dermatology Online Journal 2004 10 (1): 6  Free Full Text.
Abstract: Granulomatous rosacea is a variant of rosacea that may present similar to other granulomatous diseases. We present the case of a 45-year-old woman with a 2-year history of facial erythema with multiple papules and pustules on the cheeks, chin, and glabella. The patient responded to minocycline, resulting in healing 6 months without residual scarring. This patient's clinical and histological presentation and treatment outcome are to our assessment consistent with granulomatous rosacea. However, other clinically and histologically related entities will be discussed. These entities include, but are not limited to, perioral dermatitis, granulomatous periorificial dermatitis, lupus miliaris disseminatus faciei, facial afro-caribbean eruption syndrome, and sarcoidosis.

Solitary Tricholemmoma

The patient is a 39-year-old home visitor who presents for evaluation of a lesion on the bulb of
the nose that has been present for about six months.

O/E: The examination shows a healthy, outgoing woman with type I skin. There is a solitary 3 mm in diameter dome-shaped papule with a central keratin on the bulb of the nose. The remainder of the cutaneous examination is unremarkable.
Clinical and Dermatoscopic Images: 

Preoperative diagnosis: This has the appearance of keratoacanthoma, squamous cell carcinoma, or hypertrophic actinic keratosis.

PLAN: The lesion was shave excised. The base was lightly electrodesiccated and curetted and a
specimen was submitted for pathology.

Pathology: Assistant Professor Hye Jin Chung, MD from Boston University Skin Pathology kindly provided the photomicrographs.

At x4:  parakeratosis, papillomatosis and a lobular proliferation of pale cells
At x10: peripheral palisading with focal eosinophilic hyaline basement membrane
Diagnosis:  Solitary Tricholemmoma

Daignosis:  Solitary tricholemmoma.  Tricholemmomas can be a marker for Cowden's disease.  However, I don't feel that a solitary tricholemmoma is a red flag in a 39 yo woman.  I asked the patient about a personal or family history of cancer and there was no history of thyroid, lung or colon.

This case is presented because there are few to no accessible cases of solitary tricholemmoma online and no dermatoscopic images that I could fine..

Reference:

Spiegel JH, Khodai N. Tricholemmoma of the nose. Am J Otolaryngol. 2006 Nov-Dec;27(6):430-2.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this case report are to (1) identify clinical presentations of tricholemmoma, (2) discuss the characteristics of Cowden syndrome and the relationship between this syndrome and tricholemmoma, and (3) differentiate tricholemmoma from other superficial cutaneous tumors such as basal cell carcinoma and granulomas.

RESULTS:

Tricholemmoma was first described as a cutaneous neoplasm in 1962. It is associated with the Cowden syndrome and can be misdiagnosed as a more aggressive cutaneous malignancy. We report an unusual case of tricholemmoma presenting as a nasal mass.

CONCLUSIONS: Tricholemmoma is described as having a predilection for the head and neck, yet little information has been published about this disorder within the Otolaryngology literature. Otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeons must be familiar with this neoplasm because it can be frequently misdiagnosed as an aggressive cutaneous malignancy and hence can be incorrectly treated. We describe the presentation and diagnosis of tricholemmoma, describe the frequent association of this neoplasm with Cowden syndrome, and report an unusual presentation of tricholemmoma as an intranasal mass.

Renal Transplant Patient with a Black Toe

The patient is a 70 yo man who had a renal transplant around 10 years ago.  His immunosuppression consists of oral tacrolimus and prednisone, and he is seen annually by a dermatologist.  He had a 3 cm superficial squamous cell carcinoma ofhis scalp 5 years ago that was treated successfully with topical 5FU.

O/E: The current exam revealed a black area under the nail of the second toe on the left foot.  He said it's been like his for around a year and has not changed much.

Clinical and Dermatoscopic Images:

Diagnosis and Discussion:
While I am pretty certain that this is a subungual hematoma; if his history is accurate that may be worrisome.  There is little downside to removing the nail and biopsying the nail base if it is pigmented and this was scheduled in a week's time.  The fact that this is Morton's toe also favors subungual hematoma.

44 yo woman with facial erythema

HPI: The patient is a 44 yo health care professional with an 18 month history of erythema of the chin and perioral area.  She has been seen by four dermatologists who have treated her for rosacea and perioral dermatitis with doxycycline and various topicals.  Nothing has helped.  The process began after her  mother died.  She lives at home with her boyfriend of 16 years and their two preteen children.  

She admits to being anxious and depressed as there are significant social problems at home.

She used a topical steroid for a few days when her lips were prurituc, not for weeks to months.

She takes no medications p.o. other than Xanax 0.25 mg h.s. There is no history of using a mask or any local contactant to this area that might explain this pattern.

O/E:  Shows a light-complected Caucasian with sharply demarcated erythema and mild scaling of the chin, and submental region.

Clinical Images:

 Patch Testing: True Test negative at 96 hours

 Discussion:  This is a perioral rash that does not look like perioral dermatitis.  The pattern suggests a contact dermatitis, but the history and patch testing do not corroborate that.  Perhaps, one of our readers will have had a similar patient.  At present, this is medically unexplained, but I suspect that I am missing something.

Addendum:  See comments of Dr. Howard Maibach.

DPP4-Inhibitor Drug-Induced Bullous Pemphigoid

The patient is a 68 yo woman with Type II diabetes and Stage IV renal failure who presented with a four month history of intense generalized pruritus.  Her PCP had treated her for scabies without effect.  Her medications  include Lantus, lisinopril, atorvastin risperadone  and Januvia (sitaglipin).  The Januvia was the  most recent new medication and it was started a month or two before she started to itch.

O/E:  there was a wide-spread dermatitis on torso and extremities.  No frank bullae but there was a suggestion of vesicles.  No burrows were seen.  Vesicles were noted on the palms and soles.

An eliptical biopsy was done as well as a 3 mm punch biopsy from perilesional skin for DIF.

Histopath showed: Eosinophilic spongiosis and spongiotic vesiculation.
DIF was positive for IgG in a linear pattern at the DEJ
Histological Photographs courtesy of Dr. Jag Bhawan, Boston University SkinPath Laboratory

Diagnosis:  Bullous Pemphigoid secondary to DPP-4 inhibitor.  

Discussion: DPP-4 inhibitors  are a class of drugs that are used for Type 2 diabetes.  There have been eight references to BP as a cutaneous drug effect DPP-4 inhibitors in PubMed (the first was in 2016).  It is clear that we will be seeing more of these patients what with the wide-spread usage of DPP-4 inhibitors.

Acknowledgement:  Special thanks to Rick Sontheimer, M.D. who alerted me to this phenomenon and Dr. Jag Bhawan for the pathology interpretation and the beautiful photomicrographs.

References:

 1. Bullous Pemphigoid Associated with the Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibitor Sitagliptin in a Patient with Liver Cirrhosis Complicated with Rapidly Progressive Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Harada M et. al.  Intern Med. 2017 Sep 15;56(18):2471-2474  Free Ful Text. 

2. Dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitors, a risk factor for bullous pemphigoid: Retrospective multicenter case-control study from France and Switzerland.  Benzaquen M, det. Al.. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2018 Jun;78(6):1090-1096

CONCLUSIONS: DPP4is, especially vildagliptin, are associated with an increased risk for development of BP. Their use needs to be carefully evaluated, particularly in high-risk patients, such as males and those age 80 years or older.  Full Abstract.

3. Vildagliptin significantly increases the risk of bullous pemphigoid: A Finnish nationwide registry study. O. Varpuluoma et. al. J. Invest Dermatol:

Volume 138, Issue 5, Supplement, Page S46, 2018.  Full Abstract (Supplied by Rick Sontheimer)