Physiological skin changes in neonates –A cross sectional prospective study

Year : 2018 | Volume : 6 | Issue : 3 Page : 28-31

Sandhya Rani K ¹, Shiny Shulamite², D V S Pratap³

^1,2Assistant Professor, ³Professor &Head,Department of Dermatology, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences,Nagunur, Karimnagar,Telangana,India.

Address for correspondence: Dr Shiny Shulamite, Assistant Professor, Department of Dermatology, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences,Nagunur, Karimnagar,Telangana,India.

Email: shulamite.derma@gmail.com

Abstract

Introduction : The neonatal period is regarded as the first 4 weeks of extrauterine life. In the literature, there are numerous articles about the skin findings in neonates and the results of these studies show differences according to races and environmental factors.

Aims &Objectives: Our objective was to evaluate the physiological skin lesions seen in neonates delivered in our hospital and to determine their relationship to various perinatal factors.(gender, gestational age and route of delivery).

Materials & Methods: Newborns delivered at and attending pediatric OPD in our hospital from March 2012 to February 2013were included in this study. Dermatologic examination was performed and relationship between the skin changes and gender, gestational age and route of delivery were statistically evaluated.

Results: A total of 300 newborns were examined for the presence of skin lesions. Most common skin findings were Mongolian spot (46.66%), followed by Epstein pearls (38.66%) and physiological desquamation (28.66%) and the differences were statistically significant. Conclusion:We found that 95% of the neonates had one or more cutaneous lesions. Birth weight, Maturity and type of delivery of the babies were important factors in their causation. With this study, we want to increase the awareness about the skin findings in neonates.

Conclusion: In all variants of malignant thyroid lesions females outnumbered males with a female to male ratio of 6.25:1 and majority of the patients were in the third and fourth decades of life. Most common malignant tumor was papillary carcinoma thyroid. Least common malignant tumors were medullary and anaplastic carcinoma.

Keywords :Neonates, Physiological skin lesions,mangolian spots