Exfoliative dermatitis. A prospective study of 80 patients.

A prospective study in 80 exfoliative dermatitis patients over a period of 5 years establishes 41.9 years as its mean age at onset. The disease affected both males and females, with a preponderance of the former. The clinical features were identical, irrespective of the etiology. The onset of the disease was usually insidious except in staphylococcal scalled skin syndrome and drug-induced erythroderma, where it was abrupt and florid. Microcytic hypochromic anemia, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, eosinophilia, low serum proteins and electrolytes were salient laboratory features. Histopathology was largely unrewarding; only in 12 patients, a good clinicohistologic correlation was present. Preexisting dermatoses, namely psoriasis, air-borne contact dermatitis, phytophotodermatitis, photosensitive and seborrheic dermatitis, and other dermatoses constituted the major etiology. Antituberculous drugs were responsible for a substantial proportion of drug-induced erythroderma. No lymphomas were found. This study outlines that some salient features of exfoliative dermatitis may show geographic variations.