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Skin pattern of livedo reticularis and livedo racemosa

If the blood flow in cutaneous arteries and veins is reduced, the erythrocytes become more deoxygenated than usual, so the draining veins become visible as a regular network. Therefore, any physiological or pathological process that impedes blood flow to the skin can produce a prominent livid coloration in the predominantly venous areas at the margins of the cones, resulting in a regular, net-like pattern of closed rings. (Source: Hartig F, Reider N, Sojer M, et al. Right/left shunt. Front Physiol 2020;11:994. Copyright © 2020. Hartig, Reider, Sojer, Hammer, Ploner, Muth, Tilg, and Köhler. Creative Commons Attribution License [CC BY], https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode.)