Your skin: A window to your health

Skin problems are often the first sign of serious underlying health problems.

Butterfly rash

A butterfly rash across the face is often the first sign of lupus, but don't jump to conclusions. It could be another condition, including rosacea or contact dermatitis. Only further tests can tell if it's really lupus.

Velvet plaques

Velvety plaques around the neck and/or armpit can suggest hormone-related conditions. This condition, acanthosis nigricans, could just be from being obese. However, it is often a sign of diabetes. Rarely, if it occurs in other parts of the body such as the hands or lips, it may indicate an internal malignant cancer.

Leg plaque: Red on edge, gold in centre

Necrobiosis lipoidica is an inflammatory skin condition. It may occur with inflammatory conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis and sarcoid. Very often it is associated with diabetes, when it is called necrobiosis lipoidica diabetica, and often means the underlying diabetes may have damaged the blood vessels in the eyes and kidneys.

Itchy, violet bumps on wrist

Lichen planus is a rash made up of reddish-purple, flat-topped bumps that may be very itchy. It usually appears on the wrists or ankles, but may appear on the lower back, neck, arms, legs and genitals. The cause isn't known, but if you have it, you'll need to have liver tests. It could be a sign of hepatitis C.

Flesh coloured, orange-peel patches on back

Shagreen patches are flesh-coloured lesions on the lower back that have the texture of orange peel. They often occur with other skin signs: red or brown acne-like bumps spreading across the cheeks and nose, and ash-leaf spots of under-pigmented skin, most often on the trunk, that are oval at one end and pointy at the other. These are signs of a rare genetic disease called tuberous sclerosis that causes benign tumours to grow in the brain and other vital organs.

Tripe palms

Tripe palms describes a skin condition in which the skin of the palm becomes thick and velvety-white with pronounced folds in the lines of the hand. The skin resembles boiled tripe. It's a sign of cancer. If tripe palms is accompanied by acanthosis nigricans, it's most likely to be stomach cancer. If tripe palms is not accompanied by acanthosis nigricans, then lung cancer is usually responsible.

Hardening of skin in extremities, ‘wooden’ hands and feet

Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis starts as a brown discolouration and indentation of the lower arms and legs. Very soon, the hands and feet become brown and like wood. Sometimes there's also a small yellow spot in the eye. Researchers have found that the gadolinium contrast agent used during MRI examinations triggers this condition in some patients with kidney failure.

Scaly rash on buttocks, red tongue

Fortunately, necrolytic migratory erythema is quite rare. It's a red, blistering rash that crusts over sometimes with small erosions of the skin, usually seen in elderly patients. It tends to start in the fold of the buttocks or genitals but can be elsewhere on the body. A bright red, sore tongue is common. The condition usually indicates a pancreatic tumour, usually a glucagonoma.

Not all skin conditions are scary

Many skin conditions do not indicate that anything else is wrong with you. For example, granuloma annulare is raised, reddish or flesh-coloured bumps forming ring patterns on the hands and feet. It usually goes away within a few months and usually doesn't mean anything is wrong with you.

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