The severity and abrupt onset of chloracne follows a dose response curve. The lesions are remarkably persistent, and resistant to usual acne treatment regimens. One study of workers in an industrial accident revealed the mean duration of residual chloracne to be 26 years. Chloracne was still present in some workers 30 years after the original exposure. Chloracne is an acne-like eruption of comedones, cysts, and postules that usually involve the malar area of the face.
Cysts are frequently coalescent, and filled with straw colored fluid.
Most of these conditions are not chloracne, although diagnosis is often inconclusive. We suspect that the frequency and persistence of these skin conditions may be related to parasitic or other infections the veteran acquired in Vietnam, but they are widely varied. To our knowledge, no significant study of this problem has ever been attempted.