Cutaneous Manifestations in Thyroid Disorders

Background:
Thyroid disorders commonly have dermatologic manifestations. The association of thyroid disorders with cutaneous manifestations is complex. Both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism are known to cause these changes. Of all the endocrinopathies that may have cutaneous findings, thyroid disease is probably the one most likely to seen by the practicing physician since the skin readily reflect the functional capacity of the thyroid gland. We aimed to study the cutaneous changes in thyroid patients.

Materials and Methods:
In order to study the association of skin changes in relation to thyroid disorders, 51 patients who had skin complaints and symptoms of thyroid disorders were enrolled in the study and parameters were noted regarding history, cutaneous signs, thyroid function test and associated diseases.

Results:
We found dry and coarse skin (52.94%), diffuse alopecia (41.17%), pigmentary disorders (25.49%), pruritus (23.52%), hyperhidrosis (15.68%), keratoderma (15.68%) and urticaria (13.72%) to be the common skin manifestations. Possible autoimmune manifestations were vitiligo (5.88%), urticaria (13.72%) and alopecia (45.09%).

Conclusion:
This study shows that there definitely exists association between cutaneous signs with thyroid disorders.