Hand eczema treatment: Change behaviour with text messaging, a randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Irritant contact dermatitis is the most common type of hand eczema. Effective treatment usually involves avoidance of irritants and use of appropriate topical medication. In this study, the effectiveness of using text messaging addressing preventive behaviours and appropriate medication adherence was evaluated. METHODS: Patients who were admitted to Istanbul Training and Research Hospital Dermatology Department March 1, 2015 to July 31, 2015, and diagnosed with hand eczema were enrolled. Patients were randomly divided into the SMS group and the non-SMS group. Text messages were sent to the mobile phones of the patients in the SMS group. Severity of hand eczema, compliance to treatment, patients' information level, adherence to preventive behaviours, and the protective behaviour score were evaluated at baseline, and at the 4th and 8th week. RESULTS: Eighty-one patients with hand eczema were included in the study. After 8 weeks, the decrease in the Hand Eczema Severity Index score was 70.2% (SD 35.2) in the SMS group and 38.9% (SD 67.7) in the non-SMS group (P = .017). Sending SMS to patients increased the use of moisturizer. There was no statistically significant difference in other behaviours. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that text messaging improves the treatment success and specifically the frequency of moisturizer use in patients with hand eczema.

Superficial acral fibromyxoma in the heel with new vascular features on dermoscopy.

Superficial acral fibromyxoma (SAFM) is an uncommon mesenchymal soft tissue tumor with a predilection for the acral extremites and nail bed involvement. SAFM is diagnosed with clinicopathological and immunohistochemical examination. Awareness of this rare tumor is important because of amounts of benign and malignant neoplasms. We report a case of SAFM in a rare localization in the heel with a new finding on dermoscopy.

The clinical effect of botulinum toxin on pigmentation.

BACKGROUND: Botulinum toxin injection is a common cosmetic procedure often used to treat dynamic wrinkles, but it has also been observed to have a lightening effect on the skin. It is thought that this lightening effect develops due to muscle innervation blockage; however, the change in the amount of melanin levels has not been quantified. METHOD: Thirty-one patients who presented to the dermatology clinic of a tertiary hospital for botulinum toxin injection for wrinkle treatment were included in the study. A standard dose of botulinum toxin was injected to each patient's forehead, glabellar, and crow's feet region, and then the melanin index (MI) was measured with the Mexameter® MX 18 (Courage + Khazaka Electronic, Köln). RESULTS: After botulinum toxin treatment, a statistically significant decrease was found in the forehead and upper face MI. The upper face total baseline MI was significantly lower in the Glogau 1 group than in the Glogau 2 group (P = 0.033). The forehead 15th day MI was significantly lower in the Glogau 1 group than in the Glogau 2, 3, and 4 groups (P = 0.030). DISCUSSION: Botulinum toxin application to healthy skin for wrinkle treatment can cause facial skin lightening by reducing MI. It was also remarkable that this decrease was more pronounced in the forehead, which is a region that is particularly vulnerable to sun exposure, compared to other regions. Younger people, who are included in the Glogau type 1 group, may benefit more from this lightening effect.

Clinical and prognostic factors in the development of basal cell carcinoma.

We investigated the environmental and personal risk factors associated with the development of basal cell carcinoma (BCC). This retrospective cohort study included a total of 997 patients whose diagnosis was confirmed by histopathologic examination between 2007 and 2014. A control examination was performed in 363 of these patients, who were accessed via telephone. A total of 1151 tumors were detected in 997 patients. During their follow-up, 13% of them developed subsequent tumors. The risk of developing subsequent tumor was 2.7-fold higher in patients with multiple BCCs at the time of diagnosis than those with single BCC. Multiple BCCs tended to develop in older patients and men. The risk of developing multiple BCCs was increased in patients with a history of BCC, skin type 1 or 2, and chronic sun exposure (sun exposure of >500 weeks, a high photoaging score [≥30], and the presence of actinic keratosis). We concluded that chronic sun exposure may increase the risk of developing multiple BCCs. These data also indicate that cumulative sun exposure is as important for developing BCC as for squamous cell carcinoma.