Jayalakshmy Payippat Leelamma1, Deepthi Raj M.L.2, Anju C.K.3
BACKGROUND
Spongiotic dermatitis is a common diagnosis in routine dermatopathology practice.
Clinically it includes eczema and its clinicopathological variants. The main purpose
of a biopsy in such cases is to come to a precise diagnosis. We wanted to study
the different histopathological features commonly seen in spongiotic dermatitis.
METHODS
This is a cross sectional study conducted at a Government Medical College in
Kerala, South India. All lesions reported as cases belonging to the category of
spongiotic dermatitis during the one-year period were included in the study.
Patients who presented with an established diagnosis of spongiotic dermatitis were
excluded from the study. The study included 41 skin biopsies.
RESULTS
The age distribution pattern revealed that the highest percentage was in the 10 -
20 years age group (21.95 %) with a male preponderance (68.29 %). Small plaque
parapsoriasis was the most common lesion (24 %) encountered in the study.
CONCLUSIONS
Some of the histopathological features are specific and characteristic for each
entity like small plaque parapsoriasis, pityriasis rosea and erythema annulare
centrifugum whereas some features overlap in lesions like irritant contact
dermatitis and photoallergic contact dermatitis. Therefore, clinical history
combined with microscopic features will help us render a precise diagnosis.
