“EVALUATION AND COMPARISON OF CLINICAL AND DERMOSCOPIC NAIL FEATURES IN PSORIASIS-AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY.”

Introduction: Nail involvement in psoriasis is common and may have an impact on the quality of life. Dermoscopy, also know as skin surface microscopy, is a newer, non-invasive, and in-vivo technique that can help in detecting subtle nail changes missed by the naked eye. To evaluate and compare the clinical and dermoscopic nail patterns Aim: in psoriasis. Method and Material: A total of 71 patients aged above 14 years, clinically diagnosed with psoriasis were included in this study. The patients nail were examined both clinically and on dermoscopy .Non-polarized mode of the dermoscope was used for nail plate examination to visualize nail plate surface changes whereas polarized mode was used for nail bed examination and color changes. Results were analysed. SPSS software 20.0 version, McNemar test Statistical analysis: were used for statistical analysis. Pitting was the most common feature (90.1%) noted both clinical Result: ly and demoscopically, followed by nail plate crumbling, subungual hyperkeratosis, and splinter hemorrhage seen in 67.6%, 59.2%, 56.3% clinically and 69%, 59.2%, 64.8% dermoscopically respectively. Most importantly dilated capillaries(21.1%), dotted capillaries(46.5%), and fuzzy lunula(5.6%) were visualized by a dermoscope only. Conclusion: Nail dermoscopy provide a better view of minute changes in psoriatic nail pattern which may be missed clinically