Turkish Journal of
GERIATRICS

K.S.Ü. Tıp Fakültesi Dermatoloji Anabilim Dalı, Kahramanmaraş
K.S.Ü. Tıp Fakültesi Aile Hekimliği Anabilim Dalı, Kahramanmaraş
K.S.Ü. Tıp Fakültesi Halk Sağlığı Anabilim Dalı, Kahramanmaraş
K.S.Ãœ. Tıp Fakültesi İç Hastalıkları Anabilim Dalı, KahramanmaraÅŸ All over the world, the proportion of elderly in general population tends to rise. Epidemiological studies concerning this part of the population will be guiding while planning health services. For this purpose, we studied dermatological findings of patients older than 65 years of age in outpatient clinic records and patient files retrospectively. 287 of 8001 (3.6 %) patients aged between 65 – 96 who applied to our outpatient clinic between March 2000 and August 2002 were taken into the study. 125 (43.6 %) of the patients were female and 162 (56.4 %) were male. The distribution of patients to 12 groups of dermatological disorders were as follows: 63 (22.0 %) patients with cutaneous tumors, 61 (21.3 %) patients with eczema, 45 (15.7 %) patients with mycosis, 31 (10.8 %) patients with psoriasis, 30 (10.5 %) patients with senile pruritus, 21 (7.3 %) patients with viral dermatosis, 16 (5.6 %) patients with diabetes related dermatological findings, 12 (4.2 %) patients with hypersensitivity reactions, 11 (3.8 %) patients with dermatological disorders caused by physical agents, 11 (3.8 %) patients with neurodermatitis, 9 (3.1 %) patients with bacterial disorders and 36 (12.6 %) patients with other dermatological disorders. Premalign tumors like actinic keratosis and malign tumors like basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma were taking part as 68.3 % of all dermatologic tumors. Intertrigo and seborrheic dermatitis were diagnosed as the most common types of all eczemas, where as tinea pedis and tinea unguium were the most common types of mycosis. 81 % of viral infections were herpes zoster. Urticaria was the most common hypersensitivity reaction and callus was the most common dermatologic disorder caused by physical agents. As a result, we suggest that if dermatologic disorders remain untreated in the elderly, they can affect the quality of life negatively. Keywords : Aging, skin, elderly, dermatologic disorders, geriatric patient