Auspitz's sign is the appearance of punctate bleeding spots when

psoriasis Psoriasis is a long-lasting, noncontagious autoimmune disease characterized by raised areas of abnormal skin. These areas are red, pink, or purple, dry, itchy, and scaly. Psoriasis varies in severity from small, localized patches to complet ...

scales are scraped off, named after

Heinrich Auspitz Carl Heinrich Auspitz (2 September 1835 in Nikolsburg, Moravia – 22 May 1886 in Vienna) was a Jewish Austrian dermatologist. He was the husband of pianist Auguste Auspitz-Kólar (1843–1878).Statement(s) based on translated text from an equivale ...

. Importantly, as with many eponymous clinical signs, Heinrich Auspitz was not the first to discover the sign named after him. It was Auspitz's mentor at the

Medical University of Vienna The Medical University of Vienna (German: ''Medizinische Universität Wien'') is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It is the direct successor to the faculty of medicine at the University of Vienna, founded in 1365 by Rudolf IV, Duke ...

(

Ferdinand von Hebra Ferdinand Karl Franz Schwarzmann, Ritter von Hebra (7 September 1816, in Brno, Moravia – 5 August 1880 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary) was an Austrian physician and dermatologist known as the founder of the New Vienna School of Dermatology, an i ...

) and Parisian dermatologist Marie Devergie who first noted the punctate hemorrhages underlying psoriasis scales. This pinpoint bleeding results from a thinning of the epidermal layer overlying the tips of the dermal papillae. Blood vessels within the papillae are dilated and tortuous, and often bleed readily when the scale is removed. Although classically associated with psoriasis, subsequent research has found Auspitz's sign to be of very little diagnostic value for the disease. This is because several other diseases display the sign (including

Darier's disease Darier's disease (DAR) is an inherited skin disorder that presents with multiple greasy, crusting, thick brown bumps that merge into patches. It is an autosomal dominant disorder discovered by French dermatologist Ferdinand-Jean Darier. Darier's ...

and

actinic keratosis Actinic keratosis (AK), sometimes called solar keratosis or senile keratosis, is a pre-cancerous area of thick, scaly, or crusty skin.Freedberg, et al. (2003). ''Fitzpatrick's Dermatology in General Medicine''. (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill. . Actinic k ...

). Additionally, only a minority of psoriasis scales show it when removed (<18%). This overall indicates that Auspitz's sign is neither highly sensitive nor specific for psoriasis, and thus should only be used in combination with other findings to make a diagnosis.

References

{{Authority control Dermatologic signs