A papule is a circumscribed, solid elevation of skin with no visible fluid, varying in size from a pinhead to 1 cm.^{[1][nb 1]} They can be either brown, purple, pink or red in colour. The papules may open when scratched and become infected and crusty.^[2]

[edit] Diseases of the skin that develop papules

There are many skin diseases which develop papules such as chickenpox which is derived from the varicella zoster virus. Lichen planus is a skin disease which forms angular, purple papules.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Origin

The word "papule" is derived from the Latin word "papula".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• Skin lesion
• Skin disease
• List of skin diseases

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ With regard to the quote "...varying in size from a pinhead to 1cm," depending on which text is referenced, some authors state the cutoff between a papule and a plaque as 0.5cm, not 1cm, while others state an entirely different measurement. Therefore, for this article, the 1cm cutoff is used which is discussed in Andrews' Diseases of the Skin: Clinical Dermatology (see references), a work considered by some dermatologists as an authority on this subject matter. See Lack of Standardization for complete discussion.

[edit] References