Cutaneous Tuberculosis- One Diagnosis, a Plethora of Differentials

Abstract

Cutaneous Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic bacterial infection. It is difficult to diagnose these lesions since they mimic various other dermatological conditions. Cutaneous tuberculosis has a wide range of variations in morphology, histopathology, immunology and treatment response and a diagnosis of cutaneous tuberculosis is very much common in developing countries like India. Cutaneous tuberculosis can be exogenous; endogenous: caused by contiguity or autoinoculation and by haematogenous spread; induced by the Calmette-Guérin bacillus and manifest as a tuberculoid. The diagnosis of the infection is supported through the direct test, culture, histopathology, tuberculin skin test, polymerase chain reaction, interferon-gamma release assay, and genotyping. Drugs used for treatment comprises of isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol. The authors hereby present a case series of various types of lupus vulgaris and scrofuloderma that came to Dermatology Outpatient Department with similar findings