Cutaneous collagenous vasculopathy with generalized telangiectasia in two female patients

Abstract

Cutaneous collagenous vasculopathy is characterized by generalized cutaneous telangiectasia and unique microscopic and ultrastructural vascular changes, consisting of marked collagen deposition within the vascular walls of the post-capillary venules in the superficial dermis. There are only 4 previous cases described in the medical literature, all in males, mostly middle-aged. We have recently seen two female patients with clinical and histopathologic features diagnostic of cutaneous collagenous vasculopathy, indicating that it is not restricted to males. As cutaneous collagenous vasculopathy can be clinically indistinguishable from generalized essential telangiectasia, and histopathologic studies are rarely performed for this condition, it is likely that cutaneous collagenous vasculopathy frequently passes unrecognized, but it may be more common than previously thought. © 2009 by the American Academy of Dermatology, Inc.