ABSTRACT
Cutaneous sensory disorder (cutaneous dysesthesia syndrome) refers to cases in which the patients present with idiopathic, abnormal skin sensations such as itching, burning, stinging, crawling, or biting without apparent primary skin lesions associated with a diagnosable dermatological, mental, or medical condition. In certain cases, more specific diagnostic terms have been used to refer to specific anatomical locations of involvement (e.g., vulvodynia, glossodynia) or if the pathogenesis were understood (e.g., notalgia paresthetica, postherpetic neuralgia). The average practicing dermatologists are well trained to make dermatological diagnoses based on skin morphologies and to elucidate an underlying systemic etiology for a
cutaneous sensory complaint such as pruritus. However, in situations where no primary skin lesions can be visualized and an exhaustive medical workup has failed to reveal underlying organic diseases such as lymphoma or renal insufficiency, they are frequently at a loss as to what to pursue next. In such situations, the patient is often assumed to have a cutaneous sensory disorder as a diagnosis of exclusion.
