UREMIC FROST: A GLOBAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVE OF AN INFREQUENT PRESENTATION

Increased interest in global health has provided physicians in developed countries with opportunities for short-term experiences in various developing parts of the world. This offers these physicians unique opportunities to observe disease presentations that would otherwise not be encountered in their home area of practice. This case highlights a 42-year-old woman with end-stage renal disease, presenting with uremic frost rarely seen in the developed world, but more readily observed in developing countries likely due to the lack of dialysis availability. Patient financial burden and scarcity of trained medical staff are thought to be primary causes for the lack of dialysis centers. Global health physicians from developed countries infrequently recognize uridrosis crystallina, since most patients in developed nations with end-stage renal disease are treated with dialysis. This case represents an example of a very unique educational benefit that can be experienced by physicians who participate in global health in the developing world.