Unilateral dermatomal superficial telangiectasia. Nine new cases and a review of unilateral dermatomal superficial telangiectasia.

Unilateral dermatomal superficial telangiectasia (UDST) may be congenital or acquired. Acquired UDST may occur coincident with physiologic states of estrogen increase, including puberty and pregnancy in women and adrenarche in men. Acquired UDST may also occur in estrogenized pathologic states such as chronic hepatic disease in alcoholism. The occurrence during estrogenized states, the dermatomes of distribution, and the presence of anemic halos suggest kinship with arterial spiders. UDST and some cases of benign, generalized telangiectasia may be local and universal forms, respectively, of the same pathologic process in the cutaneous microvasculature. Further, this is compatible with both the concept that UDST results from a somatic mutation and the usual nonfamilial presentation of UDST.