ABSTRACT

Background:

Pyoderma gangrenosum is a chronic, destructive, ulcerating skin disease of unknown etiology. There are four basic pyoderma gangrenosum types: ulcerative variant, pustular variant, bullos variant, superficial granulomatous variant. Apart from these variants, there are some rare variants of pyoderma gangrenosum: malignant pyoderma, pyostomatitis vegetans, peristomal pyoderma gangrenosum, postoperative cutaneous gangrene, genital pyoderma gangrenosum, subcutaneous pyoderma gangrenosum, extracutaneous pyoderma gangrenosum. Pyoderma gangrenosum is often a diagnosis of exclusion as laboratory and histopathological findings are variable and nonspecific. Therapeutic approaches to pyoderma gangrenosum must take into consideration a variety of factors. First and foremost, the onus falls upon the clinician to be cognizant of the underlying systemic disease.