H.A. Integumentary System Terms

Alopecia

Baldness; hair loss

Annular

Circular shape to skin lesions

Bulla

Elevated cavity containing free fluid larger than 1 cm in diameter.

Confluent

Ski lesions that run together

Crust

Thick, dried-out exudate left on the skin when vesicles or pustules burst or dry up.

Cyanosis

Dusky blue color to skin or mucous membranes, as a result of increased amount of non oxygenated hemoglobin.

Erosion

Scooped-out, shallow depression in the skin.

Erythema

Intense redness of the skin due to excess blood in dilated superficial capillaries, as in fever or inflammation.

Excoriation

Self-inflicted abrasion on the skin due to scratching.

Fissure

Linear crack in the skin extending to the dermis.

Furuncle

Boil; suppurative inflammatory skin lesion due to infected hair follicles.

Hemangioma

Skin lesion due to benign proliferation of blood vessels in the dermis.

Iris

Target shape of skin lesion.

Jaundice

Yellow color to skin, palate, and sclera due to excess bilirubin in the blood.

Keloid

Hypertrophic scars, elevated beyond the site of original injury.

Lichenification

Tightly packed set of papules that thickens skin; caused by prolonged, intense scratching.

Lipoma

Benign fatty, tumor, composed of mature fat cells.

Maceration

Softening of tissue by soaking in liquid.

Macule

Flat skin lesion with only a color change.

Nevus

Mole; circumscribed skin lesion due to excess melanocytes.

Nodule

Elevated skin lesion larger than 1 cm in diameter.

Pallor

Excessively pale, whitish-pink color to lightly pigmented skin.

Papule

Palpable skin lesion smaller then 1 cm in diameter.

Plaque

Skin lesions in which papules coalesce or come together.

Pruritus

Itching

Purpura

Red-purple skin lesion due to blood in tissues from breaks in blood vessels.

Pustule

Elevated cavity containing thick, turbid fluid.

Scale

Compact desiccated flakes of skin from shedding of dead skin cells.

Telangiectasia

Skin lesion due to permanently enlarged and dilated blood vessels that are visible.

Ulcer

Sloughing of necrotic inflammatory tissue that causes a deep depression in skin, extending into dermis.

Vesicle

Elevated cavity containing free fluid up to a cm in diameter.

Wheal

Raised red skin lesion due to interstitial fluid.

Zosteriform

Linear shape of skin lesion along a nerve route.