ATYPICAL PRESENTATION OF LEPROMATOUS LEPROSY LOCALISED TO BILATERAL FLANKS

Leprosy is a chronic progressive infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae involving primarily peripheral nerves and skin. Lepromatous leprosy is a severe form of leprosy characterized by generalized polymorphic lesions constituting macules, patches, papules, nodules and infiltrated lesions distributed symmetrically over face, trunk and extremities1. It is characterized by defective cell mediated immunity against lepra bacilli and hence involvement tends to be generalized. However it can have various variants like, lucio leprosy3 and histoid leprosy4 or other atypical forms like urticaria wheal like6 , localized lesions2 or autoaggressive hanseniasis5. We report a case of a lepromatous leprosy with an atypical presentation with lesions localized to flanks.