… The patient now reacts not only on the uncovered areas, but even through clothing,… resulting in severe painful reactions occurring on all areas of the body …
DIAGNOSIS:
The working diagnosis is photosensitive seborrhoeic dermatitis. This condition certainly can cause these types of very severe reaction, these being a well-recognised though rare syndrome, which is very frequently extremely disabling as in this case because of the need to avoid even low levels of exposure to relevant light sources …
CURRENT FUNCTIONAL CAPACITY:
This lady’s light sensitivity is so severe and she is so sensitive to it (as is the case with a small group of patients whom we see with the same condition) that she is severely incapacitated because of the extent to which she has to avoid all the various sources of light, which of course are ubiquitous in any normal environment … In fact, during 2006 things have been so bad that for a prolonged period of many months now she has been confined to a darkened room at home and is not able to tolerate any other situation because of her skin problem …
LIKELY PROGNOSIS:
Going on the experience with our other patients and on the literature about patients with these types of immediate reactions to light sources, the prognosis is very variable, but there certainly is a significant sub-set of patients whose problems persist in the long-term, sometimes very severely …