Dermoscopy of pigmented purpuric dermatosis variants

• Author Details:   
• Vunnava Sri Koulini
• Dilipchandra Chintada ^*
• Aruna Bathina
• Kirankanth Vudayana
• Pooja Unnikrishnan

---

View PDF

Background:A group of chronic skin conditions with an unknown cause, pigmented purpuric dermatosis is characterized by symmetrical petechial and pigmented macules that are often present on the lower limbs as a result of hemosiderin deposition and erythrocyte extravasation. Clinically, there are five varieties.As a non-invasive method of detecting pigmented and vascular lesions, dermoscopy is useful for assessing PPD and diagnosing its clinical variations.

Materials and Methods: This prospective observational study was carried out from March 2024 to March 2025 in a tertiary care facility. Consenting patients with clinical suspicion of PPD had a thorough history and clinical examination followed by dermoscopy and a total of 30 HPE confirmed patients were included.

Results: Out of 30 cases, the most distinctive dermoscopic characteristics found were: Schamberg: brown to black reticular pigment network (87.5%), coppery red background (75%), red vascular areas (75%); Lichen aureus: linear vessels (100%), red dots and globules (100%), light brown reticular pigment network (100%), white structureless areas (100%); Itching purpura: Scaling (100%), brown structureless areas (66.6%), red dots (83.3%), globules (66.6%); Gougerot and Blum: Brown structureless pigmented areas (100%), red dots (60%), and globules (100%), brown dots (60%); Majocchi: fine brown reticular pigment network (100%), brown circles with red globules (100%), coppery red background (100%).

Conclusion: Dermoscopy aids in precise identification and demarcation of pigmented purpuric dermatosis. Since the clinical variants have similar histopathological findings, we focused on dermoscopic distinction in our investigation because there was little information available on this topic.