Purpura Totally Explained

Everything about Purpura totally explained

Purpura (from the Latin, purpura, meaning "purple") is the appearance of red or purple discolorations on the skin, caused by bleeding underneath the skin. Small spots are called petechiae less than 1cm, while large spots are called ecchymoses greater than 1cm.
This is common with typhus and can be present with meningitis caused by meningococcal meningitis or septicaemia.

Classification

Purpura is a common and unspecific medical sign, however the underlying mechanism commonly involves one of the following:

Platelet disorders
- Primary thrombocytopenic purpura
- Secondary thrombocytopenic purpura
Vascular disorders
- Microvascular injury, as seen in senile (old age) purpura, when blood vessels are more easily damaged
- Hypertensive states
- Deficient vascular support
- Vasculitis, as in the case of Henoch-Schönlein purpura
Coagulation disorders
- Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)
Vitamin C deficiency - defect in collagen synthesis due to lack of hydroxylation of procollagen. It results in weakened capillary walls.

There are also cases of psychogenic purpura described in the medical literature, some claimed to be due to "autoerythrocyte sensitization." Other studies suggest, that local (cutaneous) activity of tPA can be increased in psychogenic purpura, leading to substantial amounts of localized plasmin activity, rapid degradation of fibrin clots, and resultant bleeding. Petechial rash is also characteristic of a rickettsial infection.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Purpura'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://purpura.totallyexplained.com">Purpura Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.