Lupus Vulgaris in India

Abstract

Skin tuberculosis is not a rarity in India. Its incidence was 5.9 per thousand among general skin out-patients. Lupus vulgaris was the commonest, constituting 74% of total skin tuberculosis. There was significant high frequency of disease in females. The buttocks, thighs and legs are more often involved than the face. It is hypothesized that mode of infection in lupus vulgaris could be both exogenous and endogenous. Higher frequency of pyoderma on buttocks around which the tubercle bacilli may get inoculated seems to result in a high incidence of tuberculosis at this site.