A comprehensive clinical examination is the basis for selecting further diagnostic steps:
- General physical examination – including blood pressure, pulse, body weight, height; further:
- Inspection (viewing).
- Skin [patchy erythema (areal redness of skin), followed by: bullae (blisters), papules (vesicles), papulo-vesicles (mixture of papule and vesicle (vesicle)), plaques]
- Predilection sites (typical sites for the appearance of symptomatology):
- Décolleté
- Arms, stretch side
- Back of the hand
- Legs
- Torso
- Face
- Inspection (viewing).
- Dermatological examination [due todifferential diagnoses:
- Chronic actinic dermatitis (light sickness).
- Erythema exsudativum multiforme (synonyms: erythema multiforme, cocard erythema, disc rose) – acute inflammation occurring in the upper corium (dermis), which leads to typical cocard-shaped lesions; a distinction is made between a minor and a major form.
- Hereditary polymorphous light dermatosis of American Indians.
- Light urticaria (wheal formation after exposure to light).
- Lupus erythematosus (LE) – group of autoimmune diseases that, among other things, leads to skin symptoms.
- Lymphocytic infiltration
- Photoallergic reactions
- Phototoxic reactions]
- Health check
Square brackets [ ] indicate possible pathological (pathological) physical findings.