Dermoscopic features of coral-contact dermatitis in a traveller returning from the Caribbean

Extract Venomous aquatic animal stings and bites are a clinically relevant but underreported cause of morbidity in high-risk populations and travellers to high-risk geographical regions.1,2 Clinical reports of aquatic envenomation due to coral exposure are scarce in the scientific literature. Here, we report the clinical and dermoscopic features of a case of coral-contact dermatitis. A 22-year-old woman presented to the dermatology outpatient clinic with a pruritic skin rash on her left foot. The skin eruption had developed two weeks earlier while she was swimming in the Caribbean Sea near the island of Curaçao. She did not recall any sting or bite during the swim. Over several days, the skin rash became increasingly pruritic. On physical examination, sharply demarcated, erythematous and serpiginous plaques arranged in a cerebriform pattern were seen on the medial side of the left foot (Figure 1A). Dermoscopic assessment revealed multiple small brown dots within the erythematous plaques (Figure 1B). Given the clinical and dermoscopic findings, coral-contact dermatitis is the likely diagnosis.

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