The diagnostic perplexity of zosteriform cutaneous metastasis in breast carcinoma

The word “zosteriform” refers to the dermatomal distribution of lesions which can be present in continuous or interrupted bands of one, two, or more contiguous dermatomes unilaterally. Though the dermatomal involvement is highly characteristic of herpes zoster, all lesions presenting in a dermatomal fashion are not herpetic. Differentials such as zosteriform cutaneous metastasis should be considered especially if a patient has an underlying malignancy. Here we report two such rare cases of zosteriform cutaneous metastasis due to underlying breast carcinoma where the patients were being treated on grounds of herpes zoster due to similarities between both these diseases, but the final diagnosis was inconsistent with that.