The spectrum of HIV related skin diseases in an Irish population.

A prospective study was carried out between January 1988 and January 1990 in St. James's hospital, Dublin, which is the chief referral centre for the HIV population in Ireland. Patients were routinely referred from the genitourinary medicine department to the dermatology clinic for a full dermatological assessment which was carried out by one physician (LB). The patients were not preselected on the basis of a skin complaint. The study aimed to detect the prevalence of skin disease amongst this HIV group of patients and to compare them with an age and sex matched group of normal controls. There were 92 patients in each group, with 62 intravenous drug users (IVDU), 21 homosexuals, eight haemophiliacs and one heterosexual in the HIV positive group. A wide spectrum of skin disorders were seen, with a significantly higher prevalence of seborrhoeic dermatitis, xerosis, Kaposi's sarcoma, oral candidiasis, folliculitis, molluscum contagiosum, onychomycosis, gingivitis, perianal herpes simplex and genital/perianal warts in the HIV positive group compared to controls.