Bilateral Blistering Rash Following Gastric Bypass Procedure and Mushroom Soup Diet: Hepatitis C Virus-Seronegative Necrolytic Acral Erythema.

ABSTRACT

Necrolytic acral erythema (NAE) is an uncommon cutaneous disorder characterized by a symmetric acral distribution of erythematous plaques with underlying epidermal necrosis. While typically presenting in the context of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, NAE can also present secondary to nutritional deficiency or systemic disease. We present a case of NAE in a 66-year-old patient with no history of HCV infection status post gastric bypass who had a three-month history of eating only mushroom soup. The patient underwent a punch biopsy and was tested for a variety of nutritional deficiencies. Biopsy demonstrated partial necrosis of the upper epidermis, with subjacent re-epithelialization, squamatization, and vacuolopathy of the basal epidermis. He was treated with zinc replacement therapy after initial trials of tacrolimus and clobetasol were unsuccessful. At follow-up, he had significant improvement of the lesions. This case provides an example of an atypical presentation of NAE in the absence of HCV infection that presented as a complication of gastric bypass-associated nutritional deficiency.