Skin & its pathology

Question 1

What can benign lesions show as on the skin?

Answer 1

• skin tags
• moles
• cysts
• papilloma’s

Question 2

What are fibroepithelial polyps?

Answer 2

• flesh coloured bag like lesion

- generally in middle age and older people

Question 3

What is a naevi?

Answer 3

moles

- proliferation of melanocytes

Question 4

What is a sebaceous cyst?

Answer 4

• cysts derived from skin layers
• more common in hairy areas
• usually round and small
• causes are blocked cyst or gland or swollen hair follicle
• two types pilar and epidermal

Question 5

in sebaceous cysts what is the difference between pilar cyst and epidermal cyst?

Answer 5

• pilar is wet

Question 6

What is a seborrheic keratosis caused by?

Answer 6

• sun damaged skin

Question 7

What is basal cell carcinoma?

Answer 7

• effects the basal layer

Question 8

At what rate does a basal cell carcinoma grow?

Answer 8

slow growing

rarely metastasize

Question 9

What can a basal cell carcinoma look like?

Answer 9

• appears at sun exposed skin

- looks pearly and may contain more blood vessels

Question 10

What is Bowens disease?

Answer 10

• precursor to squamous cell carcinoma
• due to sun damage
• thickened epidermis

Question 11

What is squamous cell carcinoma caused by ?

Answer 11

• appears on sun exposed sites in older people

Question 12

How does squamous cell carcinoma appear on the skin?

Answer 12

it is a mole/naevi

Question 13

How do you measure a melanoma? A,B,C,D,E

Answer 13

Asymmetry
Border- irregular 
Colour - variable pigmentation in lesion 
Diameter- normally under 6mm 
Enlarge

Question 14

How does a melanoma arise?

Answer 14

through sun damage

Question 15

At what rate does a melanoma spread?

Answer 15

very aggressive and can spread widely

Question 16

Eczema is a clinical term that encompasses many different conditions. What are its features?

Answer 16

• it means to boil over

- itching, burning, rash, blisters

Question 17

Where does psoriasis normally effect the body?

Answer 17

elbows, knees, scalp, lumbosacral area and glens penis

Question 18

what can psoriasis be associated with?

Answer 18

• nail changes
• arthritis
• myopathy (disease of muscle tissue)
• enteropathy (GI tract disease)
• spondylic joint disease (degenerative disease of the spine)

Question 19

How does psoriasis look?

Answer 19

well demarcated

salmon pink plaques with silver scaling

Question 20

What happens in psoriasis?

Answer 20

• skin keeps regenerating

Question 21

What is scabies caused by?

Answer 21

• caused by human scabies mites

Question 22

Scabies id common in the young and elderly. How is it spread?

Answer 22

• spread by direct skin to skin contact

Question 23

What is seen in scabies?

Answer 23

mites are found mainly in the web spaces of the fingers and on the palms of the hands, the wrist, ankles and soles of the feet
- burrows appear as small greyish lines on the skin

Question 24

What are the symptoms of meningitis?

Answer 24

• headache
• stiff neck
• dislike of bright light
• aching limps and cold hands and feet
• develop rash of tiny pink prinks which can rapidly develop into purple bruising
• non blanching rash

Question 25

What bacteria is the majority of meningitis caused by ?

Answer 25

meningococcal septicaemia

- this is the one where you will develop the non blanching rash