Medical Dictionary Online

Syphilis, Cutaneous

Cutaneous lesions arising from infection with Treponema pallidum. In the primary stage, 18-21 days following infection, one or more chancres appear. If untreated, the subsequent stages of the disease appear as syphilids. These eruptions are superficial, nondestructive, exanthematic, transient, macular roseolas that may later be maculopapular or papular polymorphous or scaly, pustular, pigmented eruptions.(Arnold, Odom, and James, Andrew's Diseases of the Skin, 8th ed, p409)