Evaluation of hirsutism and hormonal parameters in acne vulgaris patients treated with isotretinoin.

BACKGROUND: Although the effect of isotretinoin use on hormonal changes in acne pathogenesis is not fully known, there are limited studies on its effects on the development of hirsutism. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the effect of isotretinoin use on hirsutism and hormonal parameters in patients with acne vulgaris. METHODS: In this study, 30 female acne patients and 30 healthy females were evaluated prospectively. Menstrual irregularity, LH, FSH, prolactin, progesterone, 17-OH progesterone, oestradiol, total testosterone, DHEA-S, insulin, glucose, TSH levels, Ferriman-Gallwey (FG) score and ultrasonography (USG) findings of control group and patient group were recorded. RESULTS: Pre-treatment progesterone (P = .007) and oestradiol (P = .001) levels of the patients were statistically lower than the control group. In the patient group, menstrual irregularity (P < 001) and FG hirsutism score at the third month of treatment were significantly higher than before treatment. In 10% of the patients, there were abnormal findings on pelvic USG in the third month of treatment. CONCLUSION: In our study, it could not be revealed that isotretinoin has a significant effect on pituitary, adrenal hormones and insulin resistance. We found that 3 months of isotretinoin treatment caused an increase in menstrual irregularity and FG hirsutism score.

Clinic experience in discoid lupus erythematosus: a retrospective study of 132 cases.

INTRODUCTION: Lupus erythematosus (LE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by a broad range of cutaneous manifestations. Discoid LE (DLE) is the most common chronic manifestation of LE. Literature reviews show that there are a limited number of large-series studies investigating DLE. Additionally, there is still no consensus on the etiological factors of DLE such as sun exposure and smoking. AIM: To evaluate the clinical and demographic characteristics of patients with DLE. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included patients who were hospitalized in the inpatient and outpatient clinics at the Dermatology Department. Age, gender, treatment method, history of smoking, antinuclear antibody positivity, progression to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), photosensitivity, and laboratory findings were recorded for each patient. RESULTS: The study included 132 patients comprising 67 (50.8%) men and 65 (49.2%) women. A family history was found in 3.8%, SLE was detected in 5.3%, and photosensitivity was revealed in 50.0% of the patients. ANA positivity was found in 23.7%, a history of smoking was revealed in 61.4%, and chronic sun exposure was detected in 42.4% of the patients. CONCLUSIONS: Discoid LE, though identified long ago, remains unelucidated and there are very few studies in the literature reporting on DLE. The results indicated that smoking and chronic UV exposure are important risk factors for DLE. Moreover, although ANA positivity was high in our patients, the rate of progression to SLE was remarkably low. The results also showed that, contrary to common belief, there is no female preponderance in DLE.