Dermatological manifestations of Venous Disease : Part i

Patients with venous disease often exhibit dermatological changes. Sometimes these skin changes are the only clue to an appropriate list of differential diagnoses. Venous insufficiency is the most common venous disease which presents with a range of skin changes. Most people are familiar with venous eczema, lipodermatosclerosis and venous ulcers as manifestations of long-term venous insufficiency. The less familiar are changes such as acroangiodermatitis and pigmented purpuric dermatoses. Dilatation of venous structures is not always due to venous incompetence and could be primary or secondary to systemic disease, or environmental influences such as actinic damage and radiation. This paper will discuss the dermatological manifestations of venous insufficiency as well as other forms of vascular ectasias that may present in a similar fashion to venous incompetence. The second instalment will focus on dermatological manifestations of haematologic disease and in particular thromboinflammatory conditions. The third instalment will discuss vascular anomalies.