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BACKGROUND: Warts or verrucae are benign proliferations of the skin and mucosa resulting from infection with papilloma viruses. Warts form a small subset of patients attending skin out-patient department (OPD), out of which the plantar warts are one of the common presentation. The present study is an attempt to compare two modalities of treatment that is electrosurgery and cryotherapy in patients with plantar warts. There are no studies available where comparison of complications between two modalities has been done in plantar warts thus making it one of unique studies of its kind. METHODS: A prospective, comparative study was conducted over a period of 6 years. After exclusion criteria, one hundred forty-seven male patients having plantar warts were included in the study. Selection of patients suffering from warts subjected to treatment was done by simple random selection. After treatment, 39 patients were lost to follow-up, and finally 48 patients treated by electrosurgery and 60 by cryotherapy were compared and analysed statistically for response to treatment and incidence of complications. RESULTS: The overall clearance rate was 75% in electrosurgery versus 73.3% in cryotherapy patients. The pain, delayed wound healing and scarring were observed significantly in more patients treated with electrosurgery than cryotherapy. In our study, recurrence at 24 weeks was observed in 21.9% of the electrosurgery patients which was slightly higher than cryotherapy, where it was 16.6%. CONCLUSION: This study highlighted that cryotherapy is quick, safe and comparatively painless procedure with less complications with success almost similar to electrosurgery making it more suitable for plantar warts.
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BACKGROUND: Follicular unit extraction (FUE) is the most popular method of hair transplantation in today's world. Hair transplantation in androgenetic alopecia (AGA) in males can restore the frontal hairline and provide hair density in alopecic areas to the satisfaction of most patients. METHODS: Consecutive male patients of AGA who underwent hair transplantation by FUE method in two centers between the period of January 2016 and June 2017 have been included in this study based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Photographic images, trichoscopy and Likert's scale were used to assess patient's improvement in hair density after the transplantation procedure. Statistical methods using SPSS software was used to analyze the results. Institutional ethical clearance and patients' written consent for procedure and images was obtained. The study was an observational retrospective study using data and images from records for which consent and ethical clearance was obtained from patients and the institution. RESULTS: Average number of follicular units transplanted in patients was 1290 (improvement in hair density: of 30.61 follicular units/sq cm). There was a statistically significant difference in improvement in hair density in patients younger than 33 years and in patients with Norwood classification below stage 4a. Forty-nine patients were satisfied with the results after assessment by the Likert scale. CONCLUSION: Hair transplantation by follicular extraction method provides good hair cover in AGA in males. This modern dermatosurgical technique with its many innovations is a very helpful technique to improve quality of life in male pattern baldness.
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INTRODUCTION: Androgenetic alopecia is a common form of alopecia with multifactorial etiology. Finasteride and minoxidil are approved by the FDA for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia. Balding scalp is believed to have relative microvascular insufficiency. Blood vessels in the scalp travel through the intramuscular plane. Intramuscular injection of botulinum toxin relaxes muscles and thereby increases blood flow in balding scalp. We conducted a pilot study to evaluate the efficacy of botulinum toxin in androgenetic alopecia management. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was conducted in a tertiary care center. A total of 10 male patients with androgenetic alopecia meeting inclusion criteria of the study were included. In the scalp, 30 sites were injected with 5 U of botulinum toxin in each site. Preprocedure photograph taken and evaluation was done, which was repeated after 24 weeks. Efficacy was assessed by photography and self-assessment scoring was done by patients. RESULTS: Of 10 patients, 8 had good to excellent response on photographic assessment. At the end of 24 weeks, 1 patient showed poor and 1 showed fair response to treatment. As per self-assessment, 7of 10 patients showed good to excellent response. Two patients had fair response and 1 patient showed poor response to treatment. CONCLUSION: Botulinum toxin was found to be safe and effective therapy for the management of androgenetic alopecia in this pilot study. Studies with larger sample size and randomized controlled trials are required to establish the role of botulinum toxin in the management of androgenetic alopecia.