A Delayed Diagnosis in a Patient with Intractable Leg Ulcer: Werner’s Syndrome

Werner’s syndrome (WS) is an extremely rare and autosomal recessive premature aging syndrome characterized by scleroderma-like skin changes, alopecia, leg ulcers, short stature, cataract, early atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, hypogonadism and increased susceptibility to malignancies and diabetes mellitus. It can be typically recognized at the third or fourth decades of life. Patients with WS usually die at the age of 40-50 years due to malignant tumors or atherosclerotic complications. Therefore, early recognition of WS is of great importance for genetic counseling and for the identification of malignant tumors, atherosclerosis, diabetes, or osteoporosis at an early stage, since they are the most important factors causing morbidity and mortality. In this article, we reported a case of belated diagnosis of WS in a 51 years old man who was admitted to our outpatient clinic for a persistent ulcer on the posterior side of the left ankle. (Turk J Dermatol 2010; 4: 101-6)