Journal Articles

Understanding calcinosis and calciphylaxis

Share this article

Understanding calcinosis and calciphylaxis

Trudie Young
28 June 2018

Calcinosis cutis is a rare cause of non-healing leg ulceration. There are many factors that can delay the healing of venous leg ulceration and the deposition of calcium in the skin known as calcinosis cutis is one of these factors. There are five distinct forms: dystrophic calcification, metastatic calcification, idiopathic calcification, iatrogenic calcification and calciphylaxis. Warfarin skin necrosis has common clinical features with calciphylaxis and is therefore included in this article, which describes the types of calcinosis cutis, their clinical presentations and limited treatment options. The aim is to highlight these unusual causes and to assist healthcare professionals when faced with a non-healing ulcer.

Free for all healthcare professionals

Sign up to the Wounds Group journals





By clicking ‘Subscribe’, you are agreeing that the Wounds Group are able to email you periodic newsletters. You may unsubscribe from these at any time. Your info is safe with us and we will never sell or trade your details. For information please review our privacy policy.

Are you a healthcare professional? This website is for healthcare professionals only. To continue, please confirm that you are a healthcare professional below.

We use cookies responsibly to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your browser settings, we’ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on this website. Read about how we use cookies.

I am not a healthcare professional.