How does leprosy cause skin manifestation?
Lepromatous infiltrations can be diffuse, can occur as nodules (called lepromas), or can be plaques. The diffuse type results in the thickened skin appearance of a leonine facies. Neuritic lesions are symmetric and slow to develop.
What is the difference between Tuberculoid and lepromatous leprosy?
Leprosy has traditionally been classified into two major types, tuberculoid and lepromatous. Patients with tuberculoid leprosy have limited disease and relatively few bacteria in the skin and nerves, while lepromatous patients have widespread disease and large numbers of bacteria.
What is the difference between Paucibacillary and Multibacillary leprosy?
Paucibacillary patients are those who are skin smear negative and show no evidence of more advanced disease on biopsy. Multibacillary patients are those who are skin smear positive and/or have a biopsy indicating more advanced disease.
What do leprosy skin lesions look like?
Signs of leprosy are painless ulcers, skin lesions of hypopigmented macules (flat, pale areas of skin), and eye damage (dryness, reduced blinking). Later, large ulcerations, loss of digits, skin nodules, and facial disfigurement may develop. The infection spreads from person to person by nasal secretions or droplets.
What is borderline lepromatous leprosy?
Borderline lepromatous leprosy is characterized by numerous symmetrical small macules, papules, plaques, and nodules but not the diffuse skin infiltration found in full-blown lepromatous leprosy.
What is MDT in leprosy?
Leprosy. Leprosy is curable with a combination of drugs known as multidrug therapy (MDT), as the treatment of leprosy with only one antileprosy drug (monotherapy) will result in development of drug resistance to that drug. The combination of drugs used in the MDT depends on the classification of the disease.
What is Dimorphous leprosy?
Dimorphous leprosy –> borderline leprosy. a form of leprosy that is very unstable immunologically; the cutaneous nerves frequently present bacilli, but the lepromin test is usually negative; cutaneous lesions are comprised of flat bands or plaques. Synonym: dimorphous leprosy.
What does a leprous person look like?
Depending on the type of leprosy, symptoms may include: Skin sores or lesions that do not heal after several months (lesions are flat or slightly elevated and light in color or slightly red) Skin lumps and bumps that can be disfiguring. Numbness of the skin because of damage to the nerves under the skin.
Does leprosy turn skin black?
Leprosy was a disease known to turn the skin darker and to enlarge the lips and flatten the nose. The dark skin was also frequently accompanied with patches of very pale skin, a disorder (vitiligo) sometimes seen in black people.