Most puzzling diagnoses of 2016

In 2016, Dermatology Times, in partnership with VisualDx, quizzed you on a number of different skin disease diagnoses. From morphea to poikiloderma of civatte to livedo reticularis, we’veshown cases that have stumped the most experienced dermatologists.

Here are the three most-puzzling quizzes of 2016.

In November, we showed you a photo of a 30-year-old woman who asked her primary care doctor about bluish-brown hyperpigmented patches that had developed on her neck over the past several weeks. She had recently gotten over a parasitic infection after visiting extended family outside the United States.

Nearly 45% of made the wrong diagnosis! This one was Erythema dyschromicum perstans (ashy dermatosis).

In February, we showed a picture of a 67-year-old man with an intensely itchy rash that had developed in the previous two weeks. The small scaly papules were in a follicular configuration on his back. His wife told him the rash had developed a few blisters. He noticed it was worse after his daily workout when he worked up a sweat.

46% of you diagnosed incorrectly! This one was Transient Acantholytic Dermatosis.

Finally, in September, we showed you a 7-year-old boy who was evaluated by a dermatologist for multiple skin lesions on his cheeks, nose and upper lip. The lesions had developed over the last six months and hadn’t been bothering him, except that he didn’t like the way they looked. His mother had encouraged the visit because she had similar firm, smooth papules in the same facial area when she was an adolescent and had them treated.

A whopping 69% of you made the wrong diagnosis! This one was Trichoepithelioma.