SEVERE CUTANEOUS DRY SKIN OF ENDOCRINE ORIGIN – A CASE REPORT

Abstract

Dry skin is a frequent reason for consultation in dermatology. Its treatment involves the identification of the underlying cause.
The authors describe the case of a 49-year-old male patient, who was referred to a dermatological consultation due to severe dry skin lasting for 4 months. He also reported intense pruritus, oral xerosis and asthenia. Eight months ago, the patient had been submitted to total thyroidectomy, and was taking since then only calcium without thyroid hormones. At presentation, the patient had a deep voice, eyelid edema, macroglossia, severe generalized xerosis with areas of eczema craquelé on the limbs, dorsal follicular hyperkeratosis, hiperlinearity of the hands, yellowish tint palmoplantar skin and bradycardia. Analytically, an elevation of transaminases, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, high level of TSH and decreased T3 and T4 recorded. This case illustrates the rich semiology of a cause of an iatrogenic endocrino- logical cause of severe xerosis.

KEYWORDS – Skin diseases; Thyroid hormones; Hypothyroidism.