Histopathology spectrum of skin lesions in teaching institution

INTRODUCTION: The skin has many functions and is a complex organ. Epidermis with skin adnexa, melanocytic system, dermis and subcutis are three main anatomic components of skin. Skin diseases are common in developing countries, prevalent among all age groups and up to 2000 skin diseases are known until now. Skin diseases show many different geographical patterns which range from simple vesicular non-neoplastic lesion to fatal neoplastic lesion. Histopathological examination of skin biopsy is necessary for accurate diagnosis, to identify etiological agents and to guide dermatologist or clinician for deciding appropriate management. AIM AND OBJECTIVES: Present study was carried out to understand prevalence and spectrum of various skin lesion in correlation with age, sex and site of involvement at tertiary care hospital and so to educate community and physicians accordingly after study results. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Study Design: Non-interventional, cross-sectional, retrospective study was carried out on all skin biopsies at department of pathology, government medical college Bhavnagar, Gujarat, irrespective of age, sex and clinical diagnosis for Study Duration: from January 2017 to January 2020 for three years. RESULTS: Out of 610 biopsies, Seborrheic keratosis, Leprosy and Basal cell carcinoma were commonly observed non-neoplastic, infective and neoplastic skin lesions, respectively. In our study, most common involved age group is >60 years and male preponderance. CONCLUSION: Leprosy and Basal cell carcinoma were most commonly observed infective and neoplastic skin lesion in our study respectively. Therefore, community should be educated to prevent airborne droplet transmission and repeated unprotected ultraviolet light sun exposure to reduce the prevalence of both these diseases. We suggest such type of study in different geographical area to plan preventive strategy to reduce morbidity due to various skin lesion.