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Chronic

By Heather Brannon, MD, About.com

Created: April 21, 2009

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board

Definition:

Chronic refers to how long a disease has been present. Chronic means having been present for a long time. Often this is not a very precise term because but there is no set time that divides chronic from the other time-based descriptors for diseases and conditions -- acute and subacute.

The following are chronic skin problems because they can't be cured but can be managed:

Pronunciation: KRON-ik • (adjective)
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