Dermoscopy of Bacillary Angiomatosis: Utility in Diagnosis and Therapeutic Control

Bacillary angiomatosis (BA) is an infectious vascular proliferation caused by Bartonella henselae and Bartonella quintana Gram-negative bacteria. Its association with HIV was described by Stoler et al in 1983. The skin lesions begin as small superficial erythematous papules that grow to form friable plaques or nodules surrounded by a flaking collarette. It can compromise internal organs such as the liver or spleen and is considered potentially fatal in immunosuppressed patients, although early treatment leads to complete resolution of the lesions. In patients with HIV, the main differential diagnosis is Kaposi sarcoma (KS), the most prevalent cancer in untreated individuals. Dermoscopy, a non-invasive diagnostic technique that is useful for the diagnosis of both pigmented and cutaneous vascular lesions, has been used to describe KS lesions not for BA lesions yet. Here we present the dermoscopic description of a case of BA in a patient with no previous HIV diagnosis. Clinical Presentation