A cutaneous sign of IgA-associated small dermal vessel leukocytoclastic vasculitis in adults (Henoch-Schönlein purpura).

A series of patients shared the distinctive cutaneous findings of palpable purpuric plaques with multifocal areas of hemorrhage or superficial necrosis within individual lesions and a retiform pattern of hemorrhage, superficial necrosis, or lesional margins. This pattern was looked for in every patient presenting with palpable purpura, but it was seen exclusively in the seven patients described herein. Each patient was found to have an IgA-associated small dermal vessel vasculitis that was proved to be leukocytoclastic in six of the seven patients. These distinctive cutaneous findings may be evidence of the presence of IgA deposition in patients with small-vessel leukocytoclastic vasculitis and may infer a different pathogenesis for lesion formation in some patients with IgA-associated vasculitis.