What Is Stasis Dermatitis?

« « Dermatitis On Fingers | What Are The Causes of Dermatitis? » »

Thursday, December 20th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

Once blood starts to congregate in a human body, and in particular in the legs it causes changes to the skin which is a condition known as stasis dermatitis. This condition is often the principal cause of a person having varicose veins. Further if the patient does not have enough venous return, it can result in more pressure being exerted in the capillary veins that in turn causes fluids and also cells to leak from the capillaries. This situation in turn results in the destruction of the bloods red cells and accordingly stasis dermatitis will typically occur.

Skin Turns Brown

A guide as to whether a person suffers from stasis dermatitis is when his or her skin may turn brown in color. Additionally a symptom of the disorder is where the affected area of skin will generally weaken and become affected by ulcers. Often if the condition is severe cracking will become evident and this clearly indicates that the skin is in a very poor condition. Continuation of this problem may result in bacterial infections and could possibly result in cellulitis infections spreading throughout the leg. If the stasis dermatitis sufferers condition happens to worsen then it is possible for venous ulcers to form.

Stasis dermatitis is not nearly as prevalent in the United States as skin cancer, dermatophytosis or even xerosis. Nevertheless, stasis dermatitis does affect quite a large percentage of the USA’s population. According to recent studies conducted to gain an idea of its prevalence, it has been found that as many as six or seven percent of patients that are fifty years or older are currently affected by stasis dermatitis. This statistic can not be ignored as in effect it means that between fifteen to twenty million Americans suffer various degrees of this condition. Studies conducted do not address whether this disease also leads to mortality or morbidity. It seems that as far as the sex of the sufferer is concerned, stasis dermatitis appears to affect women more than men. On review this could be attributed to the fact that pregnancy can cause stress on a woman’s lower-extremity venous system making females more susceptible to the condition than men.

It has been found that the older you become the more vulnerable a person becomes to developing this disease with people who are older than 70 years of age being 20% more likely to contract the disease than people in their 50’s and 60’s.

It has also been ascertained that having regular blood tests does not generally aid in managing stasis dermatitis except in cases when a patient is suspected of having cellulitis or sepsis. It is believed that the best methods of treating the stasis dermatitis condition is through compression therapy, topical therapy, and preventative management of the infection so as to minimize the severity of the condition.

If you are 50 years or older or presently display any signs that you might be suffering from stasis dermatitis then it is extremely important that you visit your health practitioner for a thorough examination. Remember if you identify the condition early on it is highly probable that the condition can be adequately dealt with and that the severity can be contained to a much lower level than would be if the condition is allowed to manifest unabated.

Stasis dermatitis in the patient with CHF.(Clinical Snapshot):
An article from: Dermatology Nursing

Get Social, Bookmark Us!!:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.