Observation
We report the case of a 28-year-old man hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit due traumatic brain injury. The patient has developed an acute rash following a febrile syndrome due to ventilator-associated pneumonia. Physical examination showed multiple pinhead to 5mm size, clear vesicles on healthy skin. Lesions were diffuse throughout the trunk, suggesting miliaria crystallina (figure 1). Miliaria crystallina is a skin condition due to the occlusion of the sweat duct opening, resulting in obstruction of the flow of sweat and retention in a vesicle below the stratum corneum (1). Milia Crystallina follows intense sweating due to excessive exposure to heat, hyperthermia, or humidity (2). Patients who are hospitalized in intensive care unit often develop this skin condiction because of the high levels of temperature and humidity(1). No treatment is necessary because miliaria crystallina is a benign dermatosis that heals spontaneously in a few hours with slight desquamation (2) as was the case with our patient after the fever disappeared.
A cknowledgement
We would like to thank Doctor Akrout Firas for his support and for the great photo.