Recurrent skin infections: a diagnostic enigma.
Our 25 years of experience with treating patients with recurrent skin infections has resulted in a rational plan that usually solves this diagnostic enigma. Our evaluation consists of a comprehensive examination of the infected tissue, as well as a search for systemic factors and diseases that interfere with host defenses and/or the biology of wound repair. Patient assessment begins with a detailed history, a search for foreign bodies in the wound, as well as histologic and microbiologic examinations of the infected tissue. Clinical recognition and laboratory evaluation for metabolic and endocrinologic dysfunction, a deficiency of the immune system, protein-calorie malnutrition, or a specific defect in collagen synthesis are other integral components of our diagnostic plan for patients with recurrent skin infections.
D000917:Antibody Formation; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000172:deficiency / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007153:Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes / Q000276:immunology; D010587:Phagocytosis; D011502:Protein-Energy Malnutrition / Q000276:immunology; D012008:Recurrence; D012874:Skin Diseases, Infectious / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D014945:Wound Healing
D003165:Complement System Proteins