Diagnosis And Management Of Skin Disorders Discussion 4

Diagnosis And Management Of Skin Disorders Discussion 4

Dermatologic disorders can present due to an actual skin problem or as the result of a systemic problem that manifests in the skin. Depending on the type of disorder, the presentation might be unique, making a quick diagnosis possible. However, some disorders have similar presentations in terms of symptoms and appearance, making diagnosis more difficult. Skin color and tone can also contribute to difficulty in diagnosis, making it important to consider cultural variations during assessments. In this Discussion, you examine the following case studies of skin disorders.

Case Study 1
An adolescent presents to your office with a complaint of an itchy, red rash that first appeared on his lower legs 1 week ago after he returned from a camping trip. The rash has since spread to the upper legs, trunk, and groin. He denies fever or other systemic symptoms.

Case Study 2
An 8-month-old presents to your office with a rash on both cheeks that has progressively worsened over the last week. Mom first noticed the rash after his 6-month checkup. He has generalized dry skin and rubs at his cheeks often.

Case Study 3
A 24-month-old presents with a red rash that began on his trunk yesterday and has now spread to the face and upper extremities. His grandmother reports that earlier in the week, the toddler had intermittent fevers up to 101.5°F without other symptoms. The fever broke approximately 48 hours ago and the rash began a few hours later.

Case Study 4:
You see a 9-year-old male who presents with a white, scaly patch on the back of his head. There is some alopecia in the area with hair breakage noted at the scalp.

To prepare:

Review the DermNet NZ and Dermnet Skin Disease Atlas websites in this week’s Learning Resources.
Select one of the four case studies of skin disorders. Analyze the skin disorder in the case you selected including lesion type, lesion distribution, color, and any ancillary findings.
Consider a differential diagnosis for the skin disorder in the case study you selected. Determine the most likely diagnosis for the patient.
Think about a treatment and management plan for this disorder. Consider appropriate dosages for any recommended treatments.
By Day 3
Post an explanation of the skin disorder in the case study you selected. Include in your explanation the lesion type, lesion distribution, color, and any ancillary findings. Then, present a differential diagnosis and explain which is the most likely diagnosis for the patient and why. Finally, explain a treatment and management plan for the patient’s skin disorder, including appropriate dosages for any recommended treatments.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.