Sign
Pyoderma gangrenosum
A rare inflammatory skin disorder that can cause rapidly enlarging, painful ulcers, including in people with inflammatory bowel disease.
- Found
- Usually on the lower legs; ulcers may also develop around a stoma.
- Normal
- No rapidly enlarging, painful ulcer with a violaceous, undermined edge.
- Abnormal
- A rapidly enlarging, very painful ulcer, often with a violaceous, undermined border.
- Suggests
- Pyoderma gangrenosum; it is associated with inflammatory bowel disease.
- Exceptions
- The bowel disease may be mild, and skin activity does not always parallel intestinal activity.
Pyoderma gangrenosum is an inflammatory skin condition rather than an infection. It may appear as an extraintestinal finding in a child with inflammatory bowel disease. Its painful, expanding ulcers can draw attention to the association even when bowel symptoms do not reflect the skin disease. It can also occur without inflammatory bowel disease.