Dermatological signs in Wilson's disease.
BACKGROUND
Because no data on skin and mucosal findings of patients with Wilson's disease have been published so far, the aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of mucosal and skin findings in childhood Wilson's disease and to determine its specific dermatological findings, if any exist.


METHODS
Thirty-seven 4-17-year-old children with Wilson's disease were included. A complete skin, scalp skin, mucous membrane and nail examination was performed.


RESULTS
Of the children, 26 (70.3%) had at least one dermatological finding. Twenty-five (67.6%), five (13.5%), nine (24.3%) had at least one skin, mucosal and nail finding, respectively. The most prevalent dermatological diagnosis of the Wilson's disease patients was xerosis (45.7%). The presence of dermatological findings was not related to drug usage, severity of the disease, or malnutrition. The duration of the disease was not different in patients with or without dermatological findings. The frequency of skin findings alone, however, was high in relatively newly diagnosed patients (<2 years).


CONCLUSIONS
Dermatologist should be aware of the various dermatological manifestations of Wilson's disease, because a careful and objective skin, mucosa, nail and hair examination may be indicative of a diagnosis of Wilson's disease, particularly in early cases.
Seyhan
Muammer
M
Department of Dermatology, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Inonu University, Tip Fakultesi, Pediatri AD, Malatya 44280, Turkey. ayseselimoglu@hotmail.com
Erdem
Teoman
T
Selimoğlu
Mukadder A
MA
Ertekin
Vildan
V
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006527:Hepatolenticular Degeneration / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009260:Nail Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000209:etiology*