Skin lesions in Lorestan province chemically wounded combatants

Introduction: Chemical weapons , which their history dates back to the first world war , refer to any factor that has direct toxic effects on human being , animals and plants. Iraqi regime used chemical weapons and various poisons during the imposed war against Iran of which mustard and nervous gases are examples that their effects are seen in victims even after passing many years. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross – sectional study was carried out in2001-2002 to evaluate skin manifestations in 95 chemically wounded combatants of Lorestan province whom were exposed to the chemical weapons during the war .Data was collected by clinical examination and information recorded in a questionnaire. Findings: All of the studied cases with mean age of 39.26 years old had skin manifestations among which the most common symptoms were itching , burning ,dry skin , scaling. From view point of lesions, the most common signs were erythema (81%) , excoriation (87.9%) and pruritic papules (49.5%). Final diagnosis in 78% of the patients was chronic dermatitis and in 7.7% of them was seborrhoeic dermatitis and in 8.8% both chronic and seborrhoeic dermatitis were observed .During exposure to chemical gases only 37.9% of these combatants had used special masks and 40% had properly worn special clothes to protect themselves which covered their body completely , but rest of them had either used protection instruments improperly or had not used them at all. Most of the lesions were in trunk , lower extremities , abdomen , head and neck .78% of the cases had multiple lesions Conclusion: Regarding the results of this study all of the chemical wounded combatants of Lorestan province suffer from different degrees of skin lesions , although more than half of them were not aware of kind and nature of the chemical gases , but it is suggested to do further studies on long-term effects of these chemical gases.