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| Fig. 61.3 Behçet’s disease demonstrating a nonspecific vaginal ulcer. (Courtesy of the William L. Weston, M.D. collection.) |
Behçet’s disease (Fig. 61-3) is a chronic relapsing vasculitis of unknown etiology that results in ocular, mucocutaneous, genital, pulmonary, neurologic, gastrointestinal, and articular involvement. Oral and genital lesions are manifested as painful aphthous-like ulcers, and may be the earliest signs of this disease. Behçet’s disease is most prevalent along the “silk road,” which spans from Japan and China to the Mediterranean Sea (countries such as Turkey), but it is also seen in the Unites States, though uncommonly. The disease usually presents in the third decade of life.
