Leprosy (Hansen’s disease) is an often ignored skin disease and this infectious disease can sometimes affect the nervous system. Non-specific nail changes can be found in Leprosy.

 

 

Study

The authors sought to study nail changes in leprosy:

 

Methods: In this study cases of Hansen’s were collected from August 2011 to April 2012 (exclusion congenital nail deformities, fungal nail infections, hair conditions, taking other medications than muli-drug therapy (MDT)). 185 cases were collected.

 

 

Results: Nail changes were found  in 88.1% of leprosy patients:

-75.7% of paucibacillary patients (PB): 21 types of nail changes were found in  PB

-91.2% of multibacillary patients (MB): 29 types of nail changes were found in MB

-Patients with nerve involvement were 3.3 times more likely to have nail changes.

 

 

Conclusion: nail changes appear to be common in Hansen’s disease, and even more so when nerve involvement is present.

 

 

Source of information: Truong DL et al. Nail changes in leprosy patients: clinical study. 2014 (4) – 21st Regional Conference of Dermatology; Danang (Vietnam)

Images: Wikipedia