The skin lexicon — common disease patterns explained by Dr. med. Alice Martin from dermanostic

Enter­tai­ning and infor­ma­ti­ve video con­tri­bu­ti­ons as part of the der­ma­nostic skin lexi­con, exci­tin­g­ly exp­lai­ned by Dr. med. Ali­ce Martin. 

Find a dise­a­se in our over­view and find out about the most com­mon skin diseases.

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The skin lexicon

Find basic infor­ma­ti­on on widespread skin dise­a­ses in 42 alpha­be­ti­cal­ly sor­ted video contributions.

Abscesses

Not just on your back or face — sud­den­ly you noti­ce a pain­ful, red­den­ed swel­ling. It feels doughy and gets big­ger every day. An abscess (also cal­led a boil) is inflamma­ti­on under the skin cau­sed by small inju­ries that allow bac­te­ria to pene­tra­te the skin. We exp­lain the impor­t­ance of this dise­a­se, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Acrocyanosis

Acro­cya­no­sis descri­bes the blue colo­ra­ti­on of so-cal­led acra. Acra are all attach­ments to the body, such as the nose, ears, fin­gers and toes. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Actinic keratosis

Acti­nic kera­to­sis is a red­dish, occa­sio­nal­ly skin-colo­red or brow­nish, firm­ly adhe­ring rough­ness (like “sand­pa­per”) of the upper skin lay­ers, which affects a lar­ge part of the popu­la­ti­on in old / older age. It is con­si­de­red the most com­mon pre­cur­sor of white / light skin can­cer. Often they can be mis­in­ter­pre­ted as “pig­ment spots”. We exp­lain the impor­t­ance of this dise­a­se, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Allergic contact eczema

Sud­den­ly a rash occurs on the itchy skin. Pos­si­ble fac­tors inclu­de creams, deter­gents, or other com­mon­ly used agents. All­er­gic con­ta­ct ecze­ma is an immu­no­lo­gi­cal reac­tion of the skin against one or more spe­ci­fic all­er­gen. It is the­re­fo­re one of the most com­mon der­ma­to­lo­gi­cal occup­a­tio­nal dise­a­ses, which is why the ques­ti­on of occup­a­tio­nal acti­vi­ty can make a decisi­ve con­tri­bu­ti­on to iden­ti­fy­ing the cau­se. We exp­lain to you what the mea­ning of the dise­a­se, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Alopecia areata

Alo­pe­cia area­ta descri­bes a type of hair loss in which cir­cu­lar, hair­less are­as form. Find out what cau­ses this, what to do about it and more in the fol­lowing video.

Anal eczema

Anal ecze­ma is a proc­to­lo­gi­cal dise­a­se, i.e. a dise­a­se that affects are­as of the rec­tum or anus. This leads to an inflamma­ti­on of the skin around the anus ope­ning, which is often accom­pa­nied by excru­cia­ting itching, which often cau­ses gre­at suf­fe­ring in pati­ents with anal eczema.

Androgenetic alopecia

Alo­pe­cia is a hair loss that can vary in seve­ri­ty and is trea­ted accord­in­gly. Not only men but also women can be affec­ted. Sin­ce it is a psy­cho­lo­gi­cal­ly stress­ful ill­ness, a dia­gno­sis and sub­se­quent tre­at­ment should be star­ted at an ear­ly sta­ge. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Angioedema

Angio­e­de­ma is swel­ling of the sub­cu­ta­ne­ous tis­sue that can ari­se for a varie­ty of rea­sons. Hives and itching may accom­pa­ny the swel­ling. Depen­ding on the cau­se, angio­e­de­ma can deve­lop at dif­fe­rent loca­ti­ons and in dif­fe­rent pha­ses of life. Cer­tain tests can help to get to the bot­tom of the cau­se. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Balanitis (inflammation of the glans)

Male geni­tal dis­or­ders can have dif­fe­rent cau­ses. Bala­ni­tis is an inflamma­ti­on of the glans that leads to pain­ful chan­ges in the skin. Infec­tions or mecha­ni­cal irri­ta­ti­ons can be pre­sent here. For cla­ri­fi­ca­ti­on, sme­ars can be taken that ana­ly­ze the skin flo­ra of the glans. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Basalioma (white skin cancer)

Basa­lio­ma is the most com­mon white skin can­cer in humans and occurs as a skin-colo­red, rare­ly pig­men­ted lump on the skin. The­re are dif­fe­rent tre­at­ment opti­ons. The aim is always to com­ple­te­ly remo­ve all tumor cells. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Lyme disease

Bor­re­lio­sis is a tick-bor­ne infec­tious dise­a­se cau­sed by bac­te­ria known as Bor­re­lia. Lyme dise­a­se occurs more fre­quent­ly in the warm sea­son, espe­cial­ly in Euro­pe and North America.

Candidiasis

Can­di­dia­sis is a fun­gal infec­tion. The Can­di­da patho­gen is part of the skin flo­ra and is usual­ly harm­less. An infec­tion can only deve­lop if the­re is over­po­pu­la­ti­on and chan­ges in the basic flo­ra. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Chronic venous insufficiency

Hea­vy legs and visi­ble ves­sels on the lower legs are com­mon sym­ptoms of chro­nic venous insuf­fi­ci­en­cy — also known as venous weak­ness. Older women are par­ti­cu­lar­ly often affec­ted. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Condylomata acuminata (genital warts)

Con­dy­lo­ma­ta acu­mi­na­ta, also known as fig or geni­tal warts, are small nodu­les on the sur­face of the skin cau­sed by the virus. They are among the most com­mon sexu­al­ly trans­mit­ted skin dise­a­ses. We exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Dermatofibroma

Der­mato­fi­broma is a benign skin lesi­on that can often appe­ar as a small, rough lump on the skin after insect bites. The­ra­py is usual­ly not requi­red. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Epstein Barr Virus (EBV)

Infec­tious mononu­cleosis is trans­mit­ted by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and is a most­ly harm­less viral dise­a­se. Peop­le usual­ly deve­lop three com­mon sym­ptoms (also cal­led a tri­ad). The­se include:

• Fever
• Swel­ling of the lymph nodes
• Inflamma­ti­on of the tonsils

It is esti­ma­ted that 95% of all Euro­peans have come into con­ta­ct with the virus by the age of 30, which can be detec­ted by anti­bo­dies in the blood. The only patho­gen reser­voir is humans. 

The patho­gen is main­ly trans­mit­ted via the high­ly infec­tious sali­va (e.g. when kis­sing), which is why infec­tious mononu­cleosis is also known as “kis­sing dise­a­se”. The­re­fo­re, young cou­ples are par­ti­cu­lar­ly affec­ted. Even weeks after the sym­ptoms appe­ar, the sali­va is still infectious.

Erysipelas (wound rose)

Fla­ming red, pain­ful and swol­len — the clas­sic tri­ad for the ery­si­pe­las (wound rose). The bac­te­ri­al infec­tion should always be trea­ted with anti­bio­tic. The cau­sal minor inju­ries should also be iden­ti­fied and inclu­ded in the tre­at­ment. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Herpes zoster (shingles)

Shin­gles is a reac­ti­va­ted viral infec­tion of the skin, which mani­fests its­elf in a belt-shaped man­ner on the skin with pain­ful, red­dish blis­ters. The dise­a­se can be trig­ge­red by a wea­ke­ned immu­ne sys­tem; rapid the­ra­py pre­vents con­se­quen­ti­al damage.

Hemangioma (blood sponges)

The heman­gio­ma (also known as blood spon­ges) is a vascu­lar mal­for­ma­ti­on that occurs very fre­quent­ly in child­hood and which can also appe­ar on the skin. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

hemorrhoids

Many are fami­li­ar with the term hemor­rhoi­ds. Hemor­rho­i­dal dise­a­se is a com­mon dise­a­se and can lead to unplea­sant sym­ptoms such as blee­ding, itching or oozing. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Insect bites — what to do against mosquito bites & Co?

Up to 25% of the popu­la­ti­on expe­ri­ence exces­si­ve all­er­gic reac­tions, up to 3.5% of them even deve­lop poten­ti­al­ly life-threa­tening ana­phy­la­xis (the­re are around 20 docu­men­ted deaths in Ger­ma­ny). In addi­ti­on, insect bites lead to all­er­gy-rela­ted whe­als (urti­ca­ria) and papu­les at the site of the bite in at least 75% of the popu­la­ti­on. We exp­lain to you which insect bites are par­ti­cu­lar­ly com­mon, what cau­ses them and what can be done about them.

Varicose veins — what this vascular disease means for you!

Visi­ble chan­ges in the lower leg ves­sels (vari­co­sis) can not only be aes­the­ti­cal­ly plea­sing, but also cau­se unplea­sant sym­ptoms. We will exp­lain to you what this vascu­lar dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do with vari­ces (vari­co­se veins).

Lentigines solares (age spots)

Age spots (so-cal­led len­ti­gi­nes sola­res or len­ti­gi­nes seni­les) can — des­pi­te the mis­lea­ding term — appe­ar in adults at prac­ti­cal­ly every age. The­se are usual­ly brow­nish-grayish spots (so-cal­led pig­men­ta­ti­on or hyper­pig­men­ta­ti­on) that occur pri­ma­ri­ly on skin regi­ons that are or have been regu­lar­ly expo­sed to ultra­vio­let (UV) light from the sun. They are main­ly found on the face, décol­le­té and the back of the hand. 

We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Leukoplakia (white spots in the mouth)

A whitish coa­ting on the mucous mem­bra­ne that can­not be wiped away — the clas­sic sign of leu­ko­pla­kia. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Lichen planus

Lichen pla­nus, also known as lichen pla­nus, is a non-con­ta­gious skin dise­a­se that can be extre­me­ly stress­ful due to the pro­noun­ced itching. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Nevus (birthmark)

Birth­marks, beau­ty marks or moles — we all have them on our bodies. It is usual­ly a benign accu­mu­la­ti­on of mela­no­cytes, the pig­ment-forming cells of the skin. They can be flat or rai­sed, and hair can grow from them. Birth­marks can alrea­dy be pre­sent at birth or they can be acqui­red in the cour­se of life. Her­edita­ry fac­tors and solar radia­ti­on on the skin play a major role in this.

Inverse psoriasis

Pso­ria­sis inver­sa is a spe­cial form of pso­ria­sis that pri­ma­ri­ly affects the folds of the skin and body cur­vat­ures. The dise­a­se is most­ly chro­nic but not con­ta­gious. This form of pso­ria­sis rare­ly occurs. Dan­d­ruff and red­ness in the area of the skin folds are clas­sic sym­ptoms of inver­se pso­ria­sis. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Psoriasis vulgaris

Sca­ly patches on the body and scalp are clas­sic sym­ptoms of pso­ria­sis, popu­lar­ly known as pso­ria­sis. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Raynaud’s Syndrome

White-blue-red, known as a tri­co­lor, is the typi­cal color gra­di­ent of Raynaud’s syn­dro­me. It is a sud­den, epi­so­dic dis­or­der of the vascu­lar mus­cles, espe­cial­ly in the hands and feet. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Rosacea (facial redness and bulbous nose)

Did you know that rosacea (or rosacea or cou­pero­se) is one of the most com­mon skin dise­a­ses? But what is “rosacea” any­way? In this video, our doc­tor Dr. med. Ali­ce Mar­tin poses the­se ques­ti­ons for you! 

Rosacea, com­mon­ly known as cop­per rose, means “rose petals” and is based on the typi­cal red­de­ning of the face, which is trig­ge­red by incre­a­sed blood cir­cu­la­ti­on in the skin and visi­b­ly enlar­ged blood ves­sels. Rosacea is a chro­nic inflamma­to­ry skin dise­a­se that pro­gres­ses in bouts. The chan­ges in the skin most­ly occur on the face and look like acne. Unli­ke acne, the­re are few black­heads and the cau­se is different.

Seborrheic eczema

Sca­ly, oily skin on the face, a clas­sic sym­ptom of sebor­r­heic ecze­ma. It is a non-con­ta­gious skin dise­a­se that occurs fre­quent­ly in men and can be dealt with quick­ly with the right the­ra­py. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Tinea capitis

A fun­gal infec­tion of the scalp (as well as eye­brows, beard hair or eyelas­hes) can be very stress­ful. In pro­noun­ced cases, bald spots appe­ar as the hair breaks off and can only grow back once the infec­tion has been eli­mi­na­ted. We will exp­lain to you what this fun­gal dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do against tinea capitis.

Tinea corporis

Fun­gal dise­a­ses are a nas­ty busi­ness. Red­ness, itching, and flaking are com­mon sym­ptoms cau­sed by tinea cor­po­ris (fun­gal dise­a­se). We exp­lain to you what this fun­gal dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do against tinea corporis.

Leg ulcer (open leg)

The for­ma­ti­on of open spots on the lower legs (ulcus cru­ris) can be a tedious mat­ter from a medi­cal point of view. The­re are dif­fe­rent cau­ses of a leg ulcer, and the the­ra­py is accord­in­gly dif­fe­rent. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Urticaria (hives)

Whe­als on the skin and seve­re itching. The­se are the clas­sic sym­ptoms of hives (urti­ca­ria). A dise­a­se that 10–25% of peop­le deve­lop at least once in their life. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Varicella (chickenpox)

Chi­cken­pox is a clas­sic child­hood dise­a­se cau­sed by the vari­cel­la zos­ter virus. As implied in the name, the viru­ses are air­bor­ne and cau­se small­pox on the skin. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Verruca vulgaris (plantar warts)

Plan­t­ar warts can be pain­ful and cos­me­ti­cal­ly bother­so­me. Espe­cial­ly in kin­der­gar­ten and ele­men­ta­ry school age they occur incre­a­singly as benign viral infec­tions on the skin. We exp­lain to you what the­se skin chan­ges mean, how they ari­se and what can be done against plan­t­ar warts.

Verruca seborrhoica (old warts)

An old age wart (so-cal­led Ver­ru­ca sebor­rhoi­ca; plu­ral: Ver­ru­cae sebor­rhoi­cae) or also known as sebor­r­heic kera­to­sis can — des­pi­te the mis­lea­ding term — appe­ar on the ent­i­re body of adults at prac­ti­cal­ly any age. In the fol­lowing we exp­lain to you what this skin chan­ge means, how it occurs and what you can do about it.

Vitiligo

Viti­li­go, or white spot dise­a­se, is a harm­less but often psy­cho­lo­gi­cal­ly stress­ful dise­a­se. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Diaper rash

Dia­per rash is an inflamma­ti­on of the skin in the dia­per area that occurs espe­cial­ly in babies. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Xerosis cutis (dry skin)

Dry skin is more than just a cos­me­tic pro­blem. Medi­cal­ly, it is a dia­gno­sis — also cal­led xero­sis cutis. Dry skin can lead to uncom­for­ta­ble sym­ptoms such as itching and a fee­ling of bur­ning. Older peop­le in par­ti­cu­lar suf­fer from dry skin and the sym­ptoms it cau­ses. The­re is flaking, irri­ta­ti­on and red­ness. Over time, a fee­ling of ten­si­on and itching may deve­lop. We will exp­lain to you what this dise­a­se means, how it deve­lo­ps and what you can do about it.

Tick bite

When stay­ing in a forest or mea­dow, a tick can quick­ly get stuck in the skin. This can trans­mit two dan­ge­rous dise­a­ses: Bor­re­lio­sis and ear­ly sum­mer menin­go­e­n­ce­pha­li­tis (TBE), both of which requi­re the­ra­py. We exp­lain to you what the­se dise­a­ses mean, how they ari­se and what can be done about them.