Post-apopletic trigeminal trophic syndrome

Trigeminal trophic syndrome is an uncommon clinical entity in which cutaneo us trophic ulceration develops with continuous manipulation of trigeminal d ermatomes. Patients spontaneously refer picking, rubbing and/or scratching at the affected areas because of hypo-anaesthesia, paraesthesia and/or pain following damage of the sensory trigeminal fibres or nuclei. We herein des cribe a patient who developed the syndrome as a sequela of brain stem infar ction. Diagnosis by scrape cytology in ruling-out basal cell carcinoma and other ulcerative skin diseases is discussed and the importance of neurologi cal examination in disclosing hemi-anaesthesia of trigeminal dermatome(s) i s emphasized.