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The color of skin: red diseases of the skin, nails, and mucosa
- Source :
- Clinics in Dermatology. 37:548-560
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Red color is pervasive in local and systemic skin conditions. It is a color that often reflects variations of dermal blood flow and extends beyond the rubor and calor of inflammation. The pathophysiology of red skin involves remote and local chemical mediators that dilate arteriolar smooth muscle and increase blood flow to superficial vessels and capillary beds. Incident light hits hemoglobin, which preferentially absorbs light of shorter wavelengths, such as blue, and reflects warmer colors. Due to its pervasiveness and consistency, red color is a useful descriptive factor in helping narrow a differential diagnosis. Red skin disorders include a variety of conditions involving endocrine mediators, cardiovascular responses, and the disruption of the skin barrier. An understanding of the blood's role in these disorders equips clinicians to generate differential diagnoses through the lens of pathophysiology. Dermatologists can improve management by considering red skin as part of systemic disease rather than as an isolated incident.
- Subjects :
- 030203 arthritis & rheumatology
medicine.medical_specialty
Skin barrier
Mucous Membrane
integumentary system
business.industry
Color
Mucous membrane
Inflammation
Dermatology
Blood flow
Skin Diseases
Nail Diseases
030207 dermatology & venereal diseases
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
medicine.anatomical_structure
Smooth muscle
Capillary Beds
Humans
Medicine
medicine.symptom
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 0738081X
- Volume :
- 37
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Clinics in Dermatology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....a1d60a033f85c71b8c8cebc8ba797efc