A Case of Herpetic Folliculitis

Abstract

Although herpetic skin infections are very common, herpetic folliculitis is not often reported in the literature. It has varied presentations, some of which are clinically atypical requiring histopathological confirmation of follicular involvement. We report a case of herpetic folliculitis which developed on the left shoulder of a 36-year-old man with painful erythematous grouped papules, but without vesicles. On histopathologic examination of a papular lesion, viral cytopathologic changes such as ballooning degeneration and giant cell formation, were observed within the follicular epithelium, thus we could diagnose this case as a viral folliculitis. The patient was treated with an antiviral agent, and the lesions subsided within several days.