ABSTRACT
Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is an inflammatory ulcerative condition of unclear etiology. Originally described by Brunsting et al. in 1930 and felt to represent a bacterial infection (1), their designation for these lesions is in fact a misnomer. PG is neither an infectious disease nor result in devitalized tissue requiring debridement. Rather, it is a reactive disorder that typically responds favorably to antiinflammatory agents. Surgical debridement rarely serves to contain the process, and may in fact aggravate and extend it. Because of the peculiar tendency of PG to be expressed in tissues that have been injured, traumatized, or surgical manipulated—a phenomenon known as “pathergy”—it is important for clinicians to be able to recognize PG and distinguish it from its simulators.
