[Peristomal dermatitis: a common condition and a differential diagnostic challenge].

Inflammation of the skin in the immediate neighborhood of a stoma (peristomal dermatitis) occurs--at least temporarily--in about two-thirds of all stoma patients. The often apparently uniform clinical presentation may conceal a variety of different pathological conditions, a knowledge of which is a must for the correct diagnosis and therapeutic strategy, which in turn is essential to prevent the development of a vicious circle of dermatitis and stomal insufficiency, which in the worst case may make a surgical intervention necessary.