Eruptive Cherry Angiomas Secondary To Exposure To Sulfur Mustard Gas

Abstract

During the Iraq-Iran war (1980-1988) many Iranian soldiers had been exposed to mustard gas. We had opportunity to observe the late-onset skin manifestations of these patients. In a prospective study we examined the skin of 2921 patients, were referred to Shiraz Chemical Warfare Victims’ Clinic One hundred and seventy-two (5.88%) out of 2921 patients had late-onset skin involvement. Forty-eight (27.9%) of 172 patients had mild mustard dermatosis, 44.8% (77/172) and 27.3% (47/172) had moderate and severe skin involvement, respectively. Cherry angiomas were seen in 62 out of 172 (36%) patients. Twenty-nine out of 62 (46.78%) patients with cherry angiomas had mild mustard dermatosis, 35.48% (22/62) and 17.74% (11/62) had moderate and severe mustard dermatosis, respectively. There were statistically significant correlation between the severity of mustard dermatosis and the incidence of eruptive cherry angiomas (P = 0.00015). The higher of the severity correlates with the less number of cherry angiomas.