CROSS-SECTIONAL OBSERVATIONAL STUDY OF NAIL DERMOSCOPY IN VARIOUS NAIL DISORDERS AT TERTIARY CARE CENTRE AT SOUTH GUJARAT.

BACKGROUND: Diseases of nail comprise approximately 10% of all the dermatological conditions. Nail disorders often possess a diagnostic challenge and in recent years, nail dermoscopy (onychoscopy) has become increasingly appreciated as an effective tool to facilitate the clinical assessment of diseases; hence we conducted this study to evaluate onychoscopy ndings in various nail disorders. AIM: Aim of our study is to evaluate characteristic dermoscopy ndings in various nail disorders and thereby to aid in diagnosis of nail diseases at an early stage. METHODS AND MATERIAL:Descriptive cross sectional study was carried out at tertiary care hospital in Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy after the approval of Institutional Ethical Committee (IEC). Patients who were presented with nail involvement were enrolled in the study after taking a written informed consent. Total of 200 patients were recruited. Dermoscopic evaluation of all nails was done and pictures were captured. The clinical and dermoscopy features were described according to the pattern analysis. All the data was compiled and entered in Microsoft excel and analysed. RESULTS:Out of 200 patients, most common skin disease associated with nail involvement was onychomycosis(45.5%), followed by psoriasis(26%), and lichen planus (11%). Dermoscopic examination of distal and lateral subungual onychomycosis, showed jagged spike, aurora borealis and ruin pattern in 100%, 48%, and 26% patients respectively. In psoriasis, coarse irregular size and shape depressions (69.23%), redorange stains (48.07%) and longitudinal red - brown streaks (46.15%) were most common ndings. In lichen planus, longitudinal striations (81.81%), were most common ndings. CONCLUSIONS: Nail dermoscopy serves as an easier, non-invasive and cost- effective diagnostic procedure for diagnosis of nail diseases.