Novel assessment of lip redness and microcirculation using optical coherence tomography after dermal filler injection.

OBJECTIVES: Lip filler injections are one of the most popular procedures in esthetic dermatology. In this study, we used three-dimensional colorimetric photography to assess lip color and optical coherence tomography-angiography (OCT-A), a noninvasive alternative to histopathology, to evaluate microcirculation after hyaluronic acid (HA) injection. The pain of the injection procedure was also assessed. METHODS: An average of 0.85cc of the total volume of HA with lidocaine was injected into the upper and lower lip of eighteen young (<30yo) and nine postmenopausal healthy women. OCT-A, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional images were acquired immediately before (visit 1) and 15 days after injection (visit 2). Custom-made software was used to analyze the imaging data to detect vessel morphology and redness changes. The Wong-Baker FACES pain rating scale (0-10) was used to score the subject procedural pain. RESULTS: For young and old subjects, three-dimensional lip volume was greater than the injected volume. OCT-A images of the lips showed higher vessel density and thickness, reaching statistical significance in the younger cohort. The overall trend of increased redness assessed by three-dimensional colorimetric imaging and increased vascularity evaluated by OCT-A imaging were similar. However, the correlation was not statistically significant for standard two-dimensional digital photography. The average pain score after the first needle insertion and overall procedure were 2.9 and 3.5, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest an increased microvasculature network observed in OCT-A images in young females. The increased blood vessel density and thickness observed by OCT-A after HA lip filler injection is associated with increased lip redness and volume as assessed by colorimetric three-dimensional photography; however, more research is needed to confirm these findings. This study presents OCT-A as a novel noninvasive tool to investigate changes in lip microvascularity after HA filler injection and indicates that HA filler procedures may affect lip vascularity.

Pharmacodynamic Study of Miransertib in Individuals with Proteus Syndrome.

Proteus syndrome is a life-threatening segmental overgrowth syndrome caused by a mosaic gain-of-function AKT1 variant. There are no effective treatments for Proteus syndrome. Miransertib is an AKT1 inhibitor that, prior to this study, has been evaluated only in adult oncology trials. We designed a non-randomized, phase 0/1 pilot study of miransertib in adults and children with Proteus syndrome to identify an appropriate dosage starting point for a future efficacy trial using a pharmacodynamic endpoint. The primary endpoint was a 50% reduction in the tissue levels of AKT phosphorylation from biopsies in affected individuals. We also evaluated secondary efficacy endpoints. We found that a dose of 5 mg/m2/day (1/7 the typical dose used in oncology) led to a 50% reduction in phosphorylated AKT (pAKT) in affected tissues from five of six individuals. This dose was well tolerated. Two of the six efficacy endpoints (secondary objectives) suggested that this agent may be efficacious. We observed a decrease in a cerebriform connective tissue nevus and a reduction in pain in children. We conclude that 5 mg/m2/day of miransertib is an appropriate starting point for future efficacy trials and that this agent shows promise of therapeutic efficacy in children with Proteus syndrome.

Phenotypic distinctions between mosaic forms of tuberous sclerosis complex.

PURPOSE: To determine if mosaic tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) can be stratified into subtypes that correspond with prognosis and extent of disease. METHODS: Next-generation sequencing of skin tumor and other samples was used to identify patients with mosaic pathogenic variants in TSC1 or TSC2. Extent of disease, onset age, and family history of TSC were determined through retrospective analysis of patient records. RESULTS: The median number of disease findings and age at penetrance differed between mosaic patients with asymmetrically distributed facial angiofibromas (4 findings, 24 years, n = 7), mosaic patients with bilaterally symmetric facial angiofibromas (8 findings, 10 years, n = 12), and germline TSC patients (10 findings, 4 years, n = 29). Cutaneous and internal organ involvement positively correlated in mosaic (R = 0.62, p = 0.005), but not germline (R = -0.24, p = 0.24) TSC. Variant allele fraction (VAF) in the blood (range: 0-19%) positively correlated with the number of major features (R = 0.55, p = 0.028). Five had a TSC2 variant identified in the skin that was below detection in the blood. One of 12 children from a mosaic parent had TSC. CONCLUSION: The phenotype of mosaic TSC ranged from mild to indistinguishable from germline disease. Patients with mosaicism and asymmetric facial angiofibromas exhibited fewer findings, later onset, and lower VAF in the blood.

Pathogenetic insights from quantification of the cerebriform connective tissue nevus in Proteus syndrome.

BACKGROUND: The plantar cerebriform connective tissue nevus (CCTN) is the most common and problematic cutaneous manifestation of Proteus syndrome. OBJECTIVE: To gain insights into CCTN pathogenesis and natural history. METHODS: The size and location of plantar CCTN was measured on 152 images from 22 individuals with Proteus syndrome by 2 independent, blinded reviewers. Average measures of plantar CCTN were transformed into a linear mixed model to estimate proportionate change in size with age. RESULTS: Median patient age was 6.9 years at study onset. The intraclass correlation coefficient between 2 blinded reviewers was 0.946 for CCTN single measures. The CCTN relative area increased with age in children (n = 18, P < .0001) by 5.6% per year. Confluent papules and nodules extending beyond the boundaries of CCTNs were gradually replaced by typical CCTN over time. The location of CCTN in different individuals overlapped near the ball of the foot. A positive relationship between CCTN growth rate and AKT1 mutant allele frequency was observed (0.62, P = .10, n = 8). LIMITATIONS: This was a retrospective review using photographs. CONCLUSION: CCTN growth is affected by age and extent of the CCTN precursor lesion. Monitoring of CCTN size might prove useful for evaluating drug response in the treatment of Proteus syndrome.

Improvement of tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) skin tumors during long-term treatment with oral sirolimus.

BACKGROUND: Oral mechanistic target of rapamycin inhibitors have been shown to reduce visceral tumor volume in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). OBJECTIVE: We sought to evaluate the cutaneous response to oral sirolimus in patients with TSC and an indication for systemic treatment, including long-term effects. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 14 adult patients with TSC prescribed sirolimus to treat lymphangioleiomyomatosis was performed. Serial photographs of angiofibromas, shagreen patches, and ungual fibromas taken before, during, and after the treatment period were blinded, then assessed using the Physician Global Assessment of Clinical Condition (PGA). Microscopic and molecular studies were performed on skin tumors harvested before and during treatment. RESULTS: Sirolimus significantly improved angiofibromas (median treatment duration 12 months; median PGA score 4.5 [range 1.5-5]; Wilcoxon signed rank test, P = .018) and shagreen patches (median treatment duration 10 months; median PGA score 4.5 [range 3.5-5]; Wilcoxon signed rank test, P = .039), whereas ungual fibromas improved in some patients (median treatment duration 6.5 months; median PGA score 4.66 [range 2.75-5]; Wilcoxon signed rank test, P = .109). Clinical, immunohistochemical, or molecular evidence of resistance was not observed (range 5-64 months of treatment). LIMITATIONS: This was a retrospective analysis limited to adult women with lymphangioleiomyomatosis. CONCLUSION: Oral sirolimus is an effective long-term therapy for TSC skin tumors, particularly angiofibromas, in patients for whom systemic treatment is indicated.

The Many Uses of the Humble Alcohol Swab.

Readily available and comparatively inexpensive, the common alcohol swab can aid dermatologists in everything from diagnosis to preoperative and postoperative care. The 70% isopropyl alcohol swab can aid in the accurate diagnosis of lesions and skin conditions, identification of biopsy sites, and disinfection.

The show must go on: Dermatologic procedural education in the era of COVID-19.

COVID-19 procedural restrictions and concerns from both practitioners and patients have led to a decrease in cosmetic procedures performed. Reduced clinic space, the necessity of distancing between people, and patient preference for a smaller care team may restrict trainees from observing, assisting with, or performing procedures. Thus, trainees may be limited in their ability to learn, practice, and meet the required number of cases to achieve competence, subsequently necessitating a sustained demand for alternative methods of learning. In this review, we examine the efforts made thus far by both dermatologists and dermatology organizations to meet the educational procedural needs of trainees and compensate for limitations during the pandemic and highlight areas in which innovation may still be needed.

Assessing the impact of aging and blood pressure on dermal microvasculature by reactive hyperemia optical coherence tomography angiography.

Visualization and quantification of the skin microvasculature are important for studying the health of the human microcirculation. We correlated structural and pathophysiological changes of the dermal capillary-level microvasculature with age and blood pressure by using the reactive hyperemia optical coherence tomography angiography (RH-OCT-A) technique and evaluated both conventional OCT-A and the RH-OCT-A method as non-invasive imaging alternatives to histopathology. This observational pilot study acquired OCT-A and RH-OCT-A images of the dermal microvasculature of 13 young and 12 old healthy Caucasian female subjects. Two skin biopsies were collected per subject for histological analysis. The dermal microvasculature in OCT-A, RH-OCT-A, and histological images were automatically quantified and significant indications of vessel rarefaction in both old subjects and subjects with high blood pressure were observed by RH-OCT-A and histopathology. We showed that an increase in dermal microvasculature perfusion in response to reactive hyperemia was significantly lower in high blood pressure subjects compared to normal blood pressure subjects (117% vs. 229%). These results demonstrate that RH-OCT-A imaging holds functional information of the microvasculature with respect to physiological factors such as age and blood pressure that may help to monitor early disease progression and assess overall vascular health. Additionally, our results suggest that RH-OCT-A images may serve as a non-invasive alternative to histopathology for vascular analysis.

A 23-Year-Old Man with Hyper-IgM Syndrome Presenting with Asymptomatic Violaceous Facial Plaques.

Tumid lupus is a rare subtype of chronic cutaneous lupus that is characterized by urticaria-like photosensitive plaques. Unlike discoid lupus, it has minimal to no surface change and resolves without scarring. On pathological examination, it may be distinguished from other types of lupus by abundant interstitial mucin deposits. Herein, we describe a case of tumid lupus in a 23-year-old Kuwaiti male with hyper-IgM syndrome. To our best knowledge, this is the first report of tumid lupus in a patient with a primary immunodeficiency.

Perineural and Vascular Invasion in an Endocrine Mucin-Producing Sweat Gland Carcinoma of the Ear with Associated Mucinous Carcinoma.

Endocrine mucin-producing sweat gland carcinoma (EMPSGC) is a low-grade, indolent tumor found almost exclusively on the eyelids that may histologically mimic metastatic breast carcinoma. To our knowledge, we present the first case of EMPSGC located on the external ear, and the first case with histologic evidence of vascular and perineural invasion. Due to the aggressive potential of this lesion, wide local excision and adjuvant radiation therapy were performed to help reduce the risk of recurrence.