title: Lupus vulgaris in a pediatric patient: a clinicohistopathological diagnosis.
abstract: Lupus vulgaris is the most common form of cutaneous tuberculosis which usually occurs in patients previously sensitized to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We present a case of a 10-year-old boy who was diagnosed as lupus vulgaris clinically and histopathologically. He had well demarcated, irregularly bordered, pink, infiltrated plaques on his left cheek showing apple-jelly appearance on diascopy. The histopathological examination showed tuberculoid granulomas with Langhans type giant cells. The Mantoux reactivity was in normal limits, and no acid-fast bacilli was found in the lesion, either by direct stained smears or by culture. The lesions showed marked improvement on anti-tuberculosis treatment. We want to emphasize that histopathological examination has diagnostic value in lupus vulgaris in correlation with clinical appearance, when direct analysis or culture is negative.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Dr. Behcet Uz Children's Hospital, Izmir, Turkey. suleafsar@hotmail.com
authors.forename: F Sule
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Afsar
authors.forename: Ilhan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Afsar
authors.forename: Gulden
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Diniz
authors.forename: Suna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Asilsoy
authors.forename: Yelda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sorguc
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008177:Lupus Vulgaris / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male