Skin nontumor
Vesiculobullous and acantholytic reaction patterns
Erythema toxicum neonatorum
Last author update: 1 July 2011
Last staff update: 11 November 2020
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PubMed Search: Erythema toxicum neonatorum
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Clinical features | Clinical images | Microscopic (histologic) description | Differential diagnosisCite this page: Hamodat M. Erythema toxicum neonatorum. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/skinnontumorerythematoxicumneonatorum.html. Accessed December 15th, 2024.
Definition / general
- Skin condition in 50% of newborns, with red patches on forehead, face, chest, trunk and extremities that have raised clear bumps in the center; usually resolves within a few days without treatment
Clinical features
- Pathogenesis unknown; may be an acute graft versus host reaction, resulting from the transfer of maternal lymphocytes during delivery
- Erythematous pustular eruption
- Can be diagnosed clinically based on classic appearance (Am Fam Physician 2008;77:47)
Clinical images
Images hosted on other servers:
Red patches with raised clear central bumps
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Early erythematous lesion: shows perivascular inflammatory cell infiltrate with conspicuous eosinophils
- Intraepidermal pustule (subcorneal): filled with eosinophils and occasional neutrophils
Differential diagnosis
- Incontinentia pigment: prominent eosinophilic spongiosis, not seen in erythema toxicum neonatorum
- Miliaria rubra (heat rash): vesicles are related to sweat ducts, not hair follicles, and typically contain mononuclear cells, not eosinophils
