Quality of life with livedo vasculopathy – an individual case study

Magdalena Wałachowska (Maria Grzegorzewska University, Poland)

Panel: Care in rare diseases

Abstract: Livedo vasculopathy is a very rare and chronic disease of small blood vessels. This disease occurs with a frequency of 1 / 100,000 people a year and affects women three times more often than men (Wojciechowska, Płużańska-Srebrzyńska, Tabara, Kręgiel & Kaszuba, 2016; Żórawicz, 2012). Clinically, it presents with bluish spots and papules that transform into painful ulcers and wounds on the skin of the distal parts of the lower limbs. Ulcers lead to defects in the epidermis and dermis. The healing process, despite the use of modern methods of therapy, is long-lasting. Wounds take 9 months to 5 years to heal, and relapses are very common.
The content of the paper will concern the physical, psychological and social consequences of a complex dermatological disease such as livedo vasculopathy. In the area of physical consequences, the following issues will be discussed: subjective ailments experienced by the sick person, pathomechanism of the disease and the adopted treatment procedure. The description of the psychological consequences will concern psychiatric abnormalities that are observed in the group of dermatologically ill patients, and the social aspect will concern the consequences that livedo vasculopathy causes in the private and professional life of the patient. The assessment will also cover the health care status of a person suffering from chronic ulceration. The speech will be prepared on the basis of an individual case study.