ÚLCERAS NA HANSENÍASE: BREVE ABORDAGEM E RELATO DE CASO ULCERS IN LEPROSY: BRIEF APPROACH AND CASE REPORT

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease that, depending on the host's immune response, has different dermatoneurological manifestations. It can vary from macules with altered sensitivity to secondary skin lesions, such as ulcers and irreversible neural involvement. This disease leaves 3 million people with disabilities in the world, being today the main cause of preventable physical disabilities. This work in question presents a brief approach on leprosy ulcers and describes the case report of a patient with chronic ulcers in the lower limbs, treated as stasis ulcers for eight years, and for which there was an indication of limbs amputation due to the lack of responses to conventional treatment. After diagnose lepromatous leprosy and start specific treatment, the patient presented progressive improvement of ulcerative lesions. The authors emphasize the importance of clinicians and specialists being familiar with the various forms of manifestation of this disease, such as the ulcerative form and thus considering it among the differential diagnoses for ulcers in Brazil, especially in hyper-endemic regions, in order to stop the transmission chain and minimize physical, economic and patient well-being