The effectiveness of the hair-restorer "Dabao" in males with alopecia androgenetica. A clinical experiment.

In a randomized, double-blind trial the effectiveness of 6 months' use of a Chinese herb extract (Dabao) as a hair-restorer was studied on 396 males with alopecia androgenetica. The effect was evaluated by nonvellus hair counts, participants' opinions and a panel's judgement of a photo-report. Twenty-three participants withdrew prematurely from the study. In both the Dabao and placebo groups an increase in the amount of hair was observed; 133 and 109 hairs on a 5 cm2 marked area, a difference of 24 hairs (p = 0.03, one-sided). Participants as well as the panel reached a similar conclusion. Regarding cosmetic effect, 42% of the participants in the Dabao group and 37% in the placebo group reported positive results. The average panel score for the cosmetic result on a scale of -10 to +10 was 0.46 in the Dabao and 0.21 in the placebo group, a difference of 0.24 (p = 0.04, one-sided). It appears from our study that, although the cosmetic effect over 6 months is modest, Dabao does have a certain effect on the growth of nonvellus hair.

Successful treatment of glucagonoma-related necrolytic migratory erythema with dacarbazine.

A 63-year-old man with a glucagonoma syndrome is described. The diagnosis was confirmed by necrolytic migratory erythema, which is the most distinctive feature of the clinical syndrome. There was no chance of operative resection of the tumor because of liver metastases at the time of diagnosis. The patient was treated with dacarbazine. During this treatment the skin lesions disappeared completely.

Long-term follow-up of photochemotherapy in pityriasis lichenoides.

Five patients with a histopathologically confirmed diagnosis of pityriasis lichenoides were treated with PUVA or irradiated with a light source emitting UVB and UVA, without prior intake of psoralens. All patients showed a good response to treatment. Long-term follow up showed that patients remained free of lesions during a period of 20 to 36 months; 3 patients had a recurrence of the disease, though less extensive than before, after 25, 23, and 23 months, respectively.

Pseudomonic acid, a new antibiotic for topical therapy.

Pseudomonic acid, a new wide-spectrum antimicrobial agent, was evaluated as a 2% formulation in a cream. Animal studies showed that this formulation was just capable of penetrating the skin. When administered parenterally to animals, pseudomonic acid was converted to inactive metabolites that were quickly eliminated from the body. When pseudomonic acid was applied as a cream to human skin, no sensitization was observed. In an open clinical study, sixty-eight patients with skin infections (mostly superficial conditions such as impetigo, infected eczema, folliculitis, or balanitis) applied pseudomonic acid cream three times a day for 5 days. In fifty patients the infections completely cleared within 2 days of the end of therapy, and considerable clinical improvement was noted in sixteen more. One patient stopped the treatment prematurely due to local burning pain, and one patient could not be evaluated clinically.