Generalized eruptive histiocytosis

What it is

A rare non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis characterized by rapid onset of crops of asymptomatic small red to brown papules, typically distributed symmetrically over the face, trunk, and proximal extremities, occasionally with mucous membrane involvement. The lesions resolve spontaneously without scarring after a variable time span and do not recur in most cases. Histopathology reveals diffuse, uniform dermal infiltration with non-xanthomatous histiocytes staining positive for CD68 and Ki-M1p. Multinucleate giant cells may occasionally be found.

Key facts

Prevalence

<1 / 1 000 000 (Europe)

Age of onset

Adolescent, Adult, Childhood, Elderly

Inheritance

Not applicable

Classified as

Disease

Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.

Signs and symptoms

These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.

ICD-10 codes

ICD-10 has no distinct code for most rare diseases, so many are filed under the nearest available one. A shared code identifies the group, not this disease — the ORPHAcode above is what identifies it.

Cross-references