Clinical study on the efficacy and tolerability of an oral supplement based on arginine, l-cystine, zinc and B6 vitamin (Cystiphane®) in patients with telogen effluvium.

BACKGROUND: Telogen effluvium (TE) is a common cause of non-cicatricial hair loss with no treatment-standardized protocol. The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy, tolerability, and patient compliance of a treatment with an oral supplement based on arginine, l-cystine, zinc and B6 vitamin (Cystiphane®, Laboratoires Bailleul, Geneva, Switzerland) with hair-growth properties, administered 4 times daily, in patients affected by TE. METHODS: We recruited 20 patients, aged between 18 and 70 years old, affected by TE. Patients were asked to take the oral supplement as a monotherapy, four tablets daily, in one or two administrations during meals. The study lasted 3 months. We evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of the treatment both qualitatively by collecting the clinician's opinion through a clinical evaluation and clinical-anamnestic form filled in by the researcher, and quantitatively through global photography and trichoscopy. We collected the patient's opinion through a self-assessment test, at the beginning of the recruitment and after 3 months of treatment. RESULTS: Eighteen patients were evaluated. After 3 months of taking the supplement, the researcher rated an average improvement of 2.89 at the clinical evaluation. For what concerns hair quantity, at the control trichoscopy, the mean trichoscopic value had risen to +2.055, whereas for hair diameter the mean trichoscopic diameter value had increased to +1.83. After 3 months of treatment, patients gave an average efficacy opinion of 3.61. CONCLUSIONS: The oral supplement has proved effective as an adjuvant in the treatment of TE in our cohort of patients.

Impact and Management of Loss of Eyebrows and Eyelashes.

Eyelashes and eyebrows have different functions, ranging from practical purposes such as protecting the eye apparatus from external hazards to the definition of our facial expression. For this reason, their loss could have both functional and psychological impact on patients' quality of life. Complete or partial loss can occur any time during life, and identifying the cause is mandatory to establish a correct and prompt treatment. The aim of this paper is to create a practical guide for the management of the most common causes of madarosis to the best of our knowledge.

Nail surgery: the effect of clinical and psychological characteristics on post-surgical quality of life and pain severity

Background: Nail disease and nail surgery are commonly perceived as painful and distressful experiences that can significantly affect patient health-related quality of life. A comprehensive management of patients undergoing dermatological surgery could improve their emotional experience, influence quality of life and, hopefully, improve their adaptation to the intervention. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate whether patient psychological characteristics may relate to nail intervention procedures and influence post-surgical quality of life and pain severity. Materials & Methods: This prospective observational monocentric cohort study was conducted in the Dermatology Nail Unit of Bologna. Patient candidates for nail surgery, meeting the inclusion criteria, were invited to participate in the study which consisted of completion of a self-report questionnaire before (Time 1) and one month after (Time 2) surgery. Results: Nail surgery was performed for 102 patients: 46 underwent highly invasive and 56 mildly invasive nail procedures. In total, 46 nail tumours were excised which were shown to be benign in 36 cases and malignant in 10 cases. Patients with a high level of pain sensitivity and trait of anxiety reported significantly lower levels of quality of life and high levels of pain intensity one month after surgery (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Our findings highlight the need for clinicians to consider the psychological characteristics of patients following dermatological surgery care in order to balance the negative impact of trait anxiety, pain sensitivity and negative treatment expectations regarding post-surgery quality of life and pain severity.

Dermoscopy of Subungual Exostosis: A Retrospective Study of 10 Patients.

INTRODUCTION: Subungual exostosis (SE), the most common nail tumor of young adults, is a benign bony proliferation of the distal phalanx occurring beneath the nail. Misdiagnosis or late diagnosis frequently occurs and no dermoscopy features of this tumor were previously outlined. MATERIAL AND METHODS: To describe the dermoscopic appearance of SE, 10 patients with radiologically and histologically confirmed SE were retrospectively retrieved from our tertiary referral centers. Data regarding age, gender, time to diagnosis, clinical presentation, dermoscopic features, involved nail and history of trauma were recorded for each patient. RESULTS: In our patients, clinical findings were similar to previous reports. Among the dermoscopic features, vascular ectasia was the most common finding (70%), followed by hyperkeratosis (60%), onycholysis (40%), and ulceration (30%). CONCLUSION: Dermoscopy could be a useful technique aimed at creating diagnostic suspicion of this benign nail condition, although X-ray examination and histopathology are mandatory for the diagnosis.