Cutaneous lesions in new born.

Five hundred unselected newborn babies delivered in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Unit II of SGBT Hospital attached to Government Medical College, Amritsar during April 2000 to October 2000 were examined for cutaneous lesions daily for the first five days after birth. Different cutaneous lesions were seen in 474(94.8%) newborns. The physiological skin changes observed in order of frequency were Epstein pearls in 305(61%), Mongolian spot in 301(60.2%), superficial cutaneous desquamation in 200(40%), icterus in 128(25.6%), milia in 119(23.8%), sebaceous gland hyperplasia in 107(21.4%), occipital alopecia in 94(18.8%), lanugo in 72(14.4%), peripheral cyanosis in 47(9.4%), breast hypertrophy in 29(5.8%) and miniature puberty in 28(5.6%) newborns. Of the transient non-infective skin diseases, erythema toxicum neonatorum was observed most commonly in 105(21%), followed by miliaria rubra in 103(20.6%) and acne neonatorum in 27(5.4%) newborns. The naevi and other developmental defects in the descending order were salmon patch in 69(13.8%), congenital melanocytic noevi in 10(2%), accessory tragi in 3(0.6%), spina bifida in 2(0.4%), hydrocephalus in 1(0.2%) and poliosis in 1(0.2%) newborns. Cradle cap was the only dermatitis observed in 50(10%) newborns. One (0.2%) case each of Harlequin ichthyosis and labial cyst was seen.