ABSTRACT

Relapsing polychondritis is a rare, autoimmune, multisystemic disease that presents with episodic inflammatory process of the cartilages. We report a case of a 48-year-old woman who presented to our otolaryngology clinic with complaints of pain, eritema, edema on both auricules, itching, and desquamation on hairy skin. She had a history of multiple episodes of these complaints for 2 years. Biopsy was performed in both the auricules. The pathological examination revealed that the perichondrial area was infiltrated by inflammatory cells and fibrosis was composed. On the basis of the pathological examination and clinic correlation, relapsing polychondritis was diagnosed. Low-dose corticotherapy was administered and in the first 8 h, significant healing was observed. This case indicated that clinicians consider relapsing polychondritis and the demonstrative therapy by low doses of corticosteroids for differential diagnosis and therapy of relevant cases.

Keywords: Relapsing polychondritis, psoriasis, steroid