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Sweet's Syndrome Disease

Sweet's syndrome (SS) is an uncommon, recurrent skin disease characterized by painful plaque-forming inflammatory papules & associated with fever, arthralgia, & peripheral leukocytosis.

reason of Sweet's Disease

Sweet's is a reaction to an internal condition. It may follow:

• Upper respiratory tract infection (e.g. chest infection, streptococcal throat infection)
• Vaccination
• Pregnancy
• Inflammatory bowel disease (e.g. ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease)

Signs & symptoms of Sweet's Disease

Prodromes are febrile upper respiratory tract infections. GI symptoms (diarrhea), tonsillitis, influenza-like illness, 1 to 3 weeks before skin lesions. Lesions tender/painful. Fever (not always present), headache, arthralgia, general malaise.

Skin lesions Bright red, smooth, tender papules (2 to 4 mm in diameter) that coalesce to form irregular, sharply bordered, inflammatory plaques. Pseudovesiculation: intense edema gives the appearance of vesiculation. Lesions arise rapidly, & as they evolve, central clearing may lead to annular or arcuate patterns. Tiny, superficial pustules may occur. If associated with leukemia, bullous lesions may occur, & lesions may mimic pyoderma gangrenosum. May present as a single lesion or multiple lesions, asymmetrically distributed. Most commonly on face & neck, upper extremities but also lower extremities where lesions may be deep in the panniculus & thus mimic panniculitis or erythematic nodosum. Truncal lesions are uncommon but widespread, & generalized forms occur.

Diagnosis

Clinical impression plus skin biopsy confirmation.

Treatment of Sweet's Disease

Treatment usually results in rapid improvement in symptoms. Usually, systemic steroids (prednisone) are prescribed in a dose of 30-40 mg daily at first.

Prednisone 30 to 50 mg/d, tapering in 2 to 3 weeks; some but not all patients respond to dapsone, 100 mg/d, or to potassium iodide.

Antibiotic Therapy Clears eruption in Yersinia-associated cases; in all other cases antibiotics are ineffective.

prohibition of Sweet's Disease

It is important to follow your doctor's recommendations for treatment.