A 34-Year-Old Man with Porphyria Cutanea Tarda View PDF

^*Vitorino Modesto Dos Santos
Department Of Internal Medicine, Armed Forces Hospital, Catholic University Of Córdoba, Brasília, Brazil

^*Corresponding Author:

Vitorino Modesto Dos Santos
Department Of Internal Medicine, Armed Forces Hospital, Catholic University Of Córdoba, Brasília, Brazil
Email:vitorinomodesto@gmail.com

Published on: 2014-06-13

Abstract

Porphyria cutanea tarda is the most common form of porphyria. This hereditary or acquired metabolic disorder is due to decreased activity of the uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase enzyme. Typical features this scarcely reported entity are photosensitivity, skin fragility to minor trauma, bullae formation, and hyperpigmentation, predominantly on the dorsa of the hands and the arms.

Keywords

Hyperpigmentation; Photodermatosis; Porphyria; Porphyria cutanea tarda

Introduction

The eight major porphyrias can be briefly distributed in three groups: acute hepatic porphyrias (four), hepatic cutaneous porphyria PCT (one), and erythropoietic cutaneous porphyries (three). Porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) is the most common form of this group of metabolic disorders, and involves a partial deficiency of the enzyme uroporphyrinogen III decarboxylase (UROD).