Rhinophyma in a Patient with Multibacterial Indeterminate Leprosy

INTRODUCTION: According to the clinical recommendations, the primacy in diagnosis of leprosy still remains with the laboratory methods, but the disease can also be suspected by the external pathological alterations in the face and limbs. This article presents a case report of one of leprosy masks commonly observed in lepromatous form of multibacterial leprosy (facies leonine), and also shows a combination of leprosy and acne rosacea in the form of rhinophyma.

CONCLUSION: Differential diagnosis did not permit the authors to rest only on the diagnosis of leprosy, because too many details indicated the simultaneous presence of vascular and fibrous alterations of the soft nose tissues uncharacteristic of leprosy, which were diagnosed as a concomitant rhinophyma. The case is indicative as an example of a possible combination of vivid clinical manifestations of two diseases of different nature, which can both hide and imitate each other.