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Nonhealing boils

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It seemed clear that the growth was linked to a recent trip to a tropical location. But the true cause wasn’t the one that was originally suspected.


 

References

A healthy woman in her 60s presented to the clinic with a 1-month history of red, itchy, and slightly painful nodules on the scalp and back. The patient had travelled to Belize for a vacation in the weeks prior to the onset of the lesions. She was initially given a course of cephalexin for presumed furunculosis at another clinic, without improvement.

Examination revealed inflamed nodules with a central open pore on the left upper back (FIGURE 1) and the occipital scalp. Notably, when the lesions were observed with a dermatoscope, intermittent air bubbles were seen through the skin opening.

Nonhealing boil on the upper back

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