Lesion or rash | Possible cause |
Ecchymosis | Trauma, corticosteroid use, abnormal coagulation from liver disease or anticoagulants |
Petechial-purpuric rash | Meningococcemia, other bacterial sepsis (rarely), gonococcemia, staphylococcemia, pseudomonas, subacute bacterial endocarditis, allergic vasculitis, purpura fulminans, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, typhus, fat emboli |
Petechiae | Disseminated intravascular coagulation, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, drugs |
Icterus | Hepatic dysfunction or hemolytic anemia |
Cherry-red skin | Carbon monoxide poisoning |
Generalized cyanosis | Hypoxemia or carbon dioxide poisoning |
Grayish-blue cyanosis | Methemoglobin (aniline or nitrobenzene) intoxication |
Localized cyanosis | Arterial emboli or vasculitis |
Antecubital needle marks | Opiate drug abuse |
Pale skin | Anemia or hemorrhage |
Sallow, puffy appearance | Hypopituitarism |
Hypermelanosis (increased pigment) | Porphyria, Addison's disease, chronic nutritional deficiency, disseminated malignant melanoma, chemotherapy |
Telangiectasia | Chronic alcoholism, occasionally vascular malformations of the brain |
Vesicular rash | Herpes simplex, varicella, Behcet disease, or drugs |
Macular-papular rash | Typhus, candida, cryptococcus, toxoplasmosis, subacute bacterial endocarditis, staphylococcal toxic shock, typhoid, leptospirosis, Pseudomonas sepsis, immunologic disorders (systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, serum sickness) |
Ecthyma gangrenosum | Necrotic eschar often seen in the anogenital or axillary area in Pseudomonas sepsis |
Splinter hemorrhages | Linear hemorrhages under the nail, seen in subacute bacterial endocarditis, anemia, leukemia, and sepsis |
Osler nodes | Purplish or erythematous painful, tender nodules on palms and soles, seen in subacute bacterial endocarditis |
Gangrene of digits' extremities | Emboli to larger peripheral arteries |
Pigmented macules | Tuberous sclerosis, neurofibromatosis |