Skin illnesses and chemical victims specially those were exposed to mustard

Background: Iraqi army, on June 28, 1987, dropped mustard gasbombs on Sardasht, West Azerbaijan, in five separate bombingruns on four residential areas. The numbers of victims at earlieststudy were initially estimated as 15 civilians dead and 650civilians injured while later the number of victims has increasedmore than 1000.Iraq used chemical weapons against thousands of Iranianmilitaries and civilians. This study aimed to compare the chroniccutaneous side effects of exposure to sulfur mustard (SM) withnerve agents (NA).Methods: The study enrolled 154 SM exposed cases and 175(NA) exposed cases. Presence of any late cutaneousmanifestations was evaluated by a dermatologist via prior historyof acute cutaneous complications extracted from medicalachieves.Results: only 18.1% mustard exposed group was asymptomaticcompared to 62.4% nerve agent exposures. Mustard and nonmustardscars, intertrigo, xerosis, cherry angioma, hyperpigmentation, Keratosis pilaris, poikiloderma, and malignanttumors were significantly more frequent in mustard exposedpatients (p<0.05). Nerve agent exposed patients experiencedsignificantly more frequent occurrence of acne a seborrheicdermatitis and tinea versicolor.Conclusion: Mustard induced dermatologic lesions were morecommon and specific than (NA) skin injuries. (NA) cause fewpsychocutaneous disorders like acne and seborrheic dermatitis inaddition to psychological stress disorders.