What are lesions?

Causes and Symptoms

“Lesion” is the general term describing any damage to tissue.
Lesions result from some insult to the body, which may take many forms, including physical injury from an accident; intentional surgical incisions to treat a disorder; bacterial, parasitic, or viral disease, such as ringworm or syphilis; stomach ulcers caused by excess acid production; an autoimmune reaction, such as arthritis; heart muscle damage during a heart attack; malformations in the circulatory system; or brain tissue damage caused by a stroke.

Because of this great variety, lesions are often classified by location and by whether they develop on their own (primary) or are related to another lesion (secondary). Primary skin lesions, for example, include cuts and scrapes, pustules, birthmarks, hives, and cancers—anything that changes the color and texture of the skin. Secondary lesions include such things as scabs, scratches from itching hives, or scars from removing or picking at a primary lesion. Most of these examples are benign, or at least more annoying than harmful. Skin cancers, on the other hand, can be deadly if left untreated.

Likewise, internal lesions vary from benign to deadly. Ulcers of the stomach or duodenum may heal on their own, but some worsen and can penetrate the bowel wall, leaking digestive fluid into the body cavity. In addition to cancerous lesions, some types are progressively dangerous, such as the scarring left by tuberculosis or the plaques of multiple sclerosis. Still others require immediate medical attention, such as an aneurysm in the brain or a puncture of a lung.

Treatment and Therapy

Therapy depends on the type of lesion. Topical ointments or creams, such a cortisol cream, soothe the effects of many skin lesions. Lesions caused by a specific disease clear up with the appropriate medication for the disease. Likewise, medications can clear up some internal lesions, such as the antacids or H2-receptor antagonists that reduce stomach-acid production in an attempt to treat gastric ulcers.

Surgery, heat therapy, ultrasound, cautery, chemotherapy, radiation, and laser surgery are used to remove lesions or destroy damaged tissue. Classic examples include removing a polyp in the colon with a cauterizing snare, using radiation to destroy cancer
cells and shrink a tumor, performing surgery to cut out a melanoma, and suturing a wound.

Bibliography:

Anderson, Robin L. Sources in the History of Medicine: The Impact of Disease and Trauma. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006.

“Brain Lesions.” MayoClinic.com, Oct. 25, 2011.

Beers, Mark H. The Merck Manual of Medical Information. New York: Pocket Books, 2003.

Feliciano, David, Kenneth Mattox, and Ernest Moore. Trauma. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Medical, 2013.

Habif, Thomas P., et al. Skin Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment. 3d ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier/Saunders, 2011.

Sompayrac, Lauren. How Cancer Works. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett, 2004.