Metastatic Cutaneous Crohn’s Disease

A 16-yr-old boy and a 38-yr-old woman with Crohn’s disease developed granulomatous dermatitis on the forearm and lower calf, respectively. Their lesions were clinically and histologically similar to those described in the small number of prior reports of “metastatic” cutaneous Crohn’s disease. They were readily distinguished from those of other dermatologic conditions associated with Crohn’s disease, such as pyoderma gangrenosum, erythema nodosum, and cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa. Appropriate clinical studies, biopsy specimens, and cultures are required, however, to exclude other forms of granulomatous disease that could occur coincidentally in a patient with Crohn’s disease.