When given by injection, anti-inflammatory effects begin in around two hours and last for seven days.It is used as a topical cream to relieve skin irritation, such as itching and flaking from eczema. It is used as a treatment for local psoriasis, as betamethasone dipropionate and salicylic acid, or as the combination calcipotriol/betamethasone dipropionate. Betamethasone sodium phosphate is used orally and via injection with the same indications as other steroids. Many betamethasone-based pharmaceuticals include the steroid as the valerate ester. In a randomized controlled trial betamethasone was shown to reduce some of the ataxia (poor coordination) symptoms associated with ataxia telangiectasia (A-T) by 28-31%.Betamethasone is also used to stimulate fetal lung maturation in order to prevent infant respiratory distress syndrome (IRDS) and to decrease the incidence and mortality from intracranial hemorrhage in premature infants. A cream with 0.05% betamethasone appears effective in treating phimosis in boys, and often averts the need for circumcision. It has replaced circumcision as the preferred treatment method for some physicians in the British National Health Service. Side effects
Euphoria
Depression
Adrenal suppression
Hypertension
Groupings of fine blood vessels becoming prominent under the skin, petechiae
Excessive hair growth (hypertrichosis)
EcchymosesProlonged use of this medicine on extensive areas of skin, broken or raw skin, skin folds, or underneath airtight dressings may on rare occasions result in enough corticosteroid being absorbed to have side effects on other parts of the body; for example, by causing a decrease in the production of natural hormones by the adrenal glands.
Sea-blue histiocytosis is a cutaneous condition that may occur as a familial inherited syndrome or as an acquired secondary or systemic infiltrative process. : 720

Causes
It can be associated with the gene APOE.It can also be acquired. Sea-blue histiocyte syndrome is seen in patients receiving fat emulsion as a part of long-term parenteral nutrition (TPN) for intestinal failure. Pathophysiology
The high lipid content in the blood leads to excessive cytoplasm loading of lipids within histiocytes. The subsequent incomplete degradation of these lipids leads to the formation of cytoplasmic lipid pigments. High lipid content may also cause membrane abnormality of the hemopoietic cells which is recognized by macrophages and therefore, increased accumulation within the bone marrow. These lipid laden histiocytes appear blue with May-Giemsa/PAS stain hence the name of Sea-Blue Histocyte Syndrome. Sea-blue histiocytosis is also seen in lipid disorders. Diagnosis
See also
Non-X histiocytosis

References


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