BACKGROUND: Chronic immunosuppressive therapy predisposes renal transplant recipients to a heightened susceptibility to infectious dermatoses. OBJECTIVES: evaluate the frequency of infectious dermatoses in 208 renal transplant recipients over a 12-month period and verify the relation between the onset of dermatoses and the time elapsed since transplantation. METHOD: 208 renal transplant recipients, taken from a population of 720 transplant recipients, received a dermatological examination for a year. Dermatopathological examination, mycological examination, bacteriologic examination, and cultures were taken from suspected lesions. RESULTS: the prevalence of infectious dermatosis was 89.4% in this population. The more frequent fungal, viral and bacterial infections were respectively pitiyriasis versicolor (17.8%), warts (32.2%), and folliculitis (4.3%). CONCLUSION: infectious dermatoses are common in renal transplant recipients. Their occurrence is progressively higher as time passes after the transplantation, therefore making the frequent dermatological examination of these recipients very important.
skin diseases; infectious; immunosuppression; kidney transplantation
