Yushchenko (Ющенко) and Poisoning-induced Skin Lesions

Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko (b1954, Віктор Ющенко) served as the President of Ukraine from 2005 to 2010

On the 5th of September 2004, he was poisoned with dioxin in Kiev (source unknown).

Later that month, he was hospitalized in Vienna for acute pancreatitis and his face developed jaundice, swelling and skin lesions.

Early 2005, he was hospitalized at the then famous Dermatology department, headed by Professor Jean-Hilaire Saurat:

• the exact form of dioxin turned out to be 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD)
• the concentration of TCDD in the skin lesions was 50000 times normal values.
• The skin lesions were in fact hamartomas which enabled the evacuation of the poison.

The exact name of these lesions is Metabolizing Acquired Dioxin-Induced Skin Hamartoma (MADISH)
Following similar incidents which occurred previously such as Seveso, Italy (1976), the skin lesions were labeled as Chloracne. This is a misnomer as the lesions under histology were cysts devoid of sebaceous glands.

Treatments which included dermabrasion enabled to greatly improve appearance.

To read more about MADISH and the research done, click HERE

Note: the only purpose of this article is to study substance-induced skin lesions and does not by any means have a political purpose.