The following symptoms and complaints may indicate leprosy:
Symptoms of indeterminate leprosy
- Small hypopigmented spots (macules) – heal spontaneously in circa 75% of cases.
Symptoms of tuberculoid leprosy
- Few sharply demarcated hypopigmented skin lesions with raised marginal ridge, central healing if necessary.
- Hypesthesia/hypoesthesia to anesthesia (decreased pain sensitivity/painlessness) in the affected area.
- Disturbed sweat secretion
- Nerve thickening
- Sensory disturbances
- Paralysis
- Keratomalacia (softening of the cornea)
Symptoms of lepromatous leprosy
- Skin nodules (lepromatous), prone to severe enlargement and ulceration (ulceration), especially on the trunk and face.
- Facies leontina (lion-like face).
- Madarosis – loss of eyebrows and eyelashes.
- Loosening of the front incisors (Möller-Christensen phenomenon).
- Saddle nose
- Rough voice
- Alopecia (hair loss)
- Impaired sweat secretion
- Sensory loss
- Paralyses
- Disturbance of autonomic innervation
- Glomerulonephritis (inflammation of the renal corpuscles).
- Amyloidosis – systemic disease with deposits of proteins (protein) in various organ systems.
Overall, there is always a gradual onset of symptoms.
Furthermore, in the course of the disease is a settlement in all organs possible.
