Dermatology in Contemporary Times: Building Awareness of Social Media's Association With Adolescent Skin Disease and Mental Health.

BACKGROUND: The contribution of psychological disorders to the burden of skin disease has been poorly explored in adolescent patients. The review aims to provide insights into the psychological, social, occupational, and social medias' association with acne, atopic dermatitis (AD), and aesthetics in adolescent patients. METHODS: The project used a modified Delphi process comprising face-to-face discussions followed up online.  The systematic literature search results informed the 14 draft statements. During an expert panel meeting, the draft statements underwent the panel's evaluation at a workshop, followed by a plenary discussion adopting five statements using evidence from the literature coupled with the panel's opinions and experiences.  Results: Studies reported an association between poor sleep, social impairment, and mental health disorders, including body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) with acne or AD in adolescents with acne or AD. Education for patients and parents may improve self-management skills and self-responsibility, promoting better outcomes for acne and AD. The use of certain types of social media can contribute to unrealistic expectations regarding the outcomes of cosmetic procedures. Social media use may also be associated with, and potentially contribute to unrealistic appearance expectations and certain mental health conditions. However, social media use may have benefits, such as connection, diversity, social support, increased self-esteem, safe identity experimentation, and an increased opportunity for self-disclosure.  Conclusions: The association with negative life events, BDD, suicidal ideation, depression, and anxiety are thought to be high for adolescent patients with acne or AD. Using social media for information has both positive and negative aspects. Awareness of the risks and benefits of receiving health information about dermatological disease among adolescents needs to be improved through the education of patients and clinicians. Action-oriented items need to be developed to help dermatologists address these issues in clinical practice.Rieder EA, Andriessen A, Cutler V, et al. Dermatology in contemporary times: building awareness of social media's association with adolescent skin disease and mental health. J Drugs Dermatol. 2023;22(8):817-825. doi:10.36849/JDD.7596.

Sjogren's Syndrome Presenting with Solely Cutaneous Features.

Sjogren's syndrome is classically characterized by symptoms of keratoconjunctivitis sicca and xerostomia, secondary to lymphocytic infiltration of the salivary and lacrimal glands. Cutaneous findings of this disease are infrequently discussed and thus rarely considered among patients without the typical symptomatology. However, these patients can develop xerosis, alopecia, vitiligo, papular or nodular lesions, or cutaneous vasculitis. A 56-year-old Asian female presented with intermittent cutaneous erythematous lesions of her bilateral pinna and preauricular areas. Despite initial symptom presentation causing concern for tumid lupus versus cutaneous T cell lymphoma versus relapsing polychondritis, extensive serologic and histopathologic workup eventually indicated a likely diagnosis of Sjogren's syndrome. This case brings to light that Sjogren's syndrome is truly a multi-systemic disease and can present with primarily extra glandular cutaneous symptoms. When approaching the workup of a new patient, it is absolutely vital to maintain a broad differential and keep in mind that overlap syndromes among multiple autoimmune diseases do exist as well.

Increasing a Dermatologist's Footprint on Instagram: An Analysis of Top Influencers Performing Nonsurgical Cosmetic Procedures.

BACKGROUND: Patients use social media to find information about cosmetic procedures, yet dermatologists historically lack a social media presence. Misleading information from nonexperts is potentially harmful. OBJECTIVE: To identify the top influencers posting about nonsurgical cosmetic procedures on Instagram, verify their credentials, and analyze their content to empower dermatologists to effectively join the online conversation, combat harmful misinformation, and preserve the expertise and influence of board-certified dermatologists. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Using the Klear marketing platform, Instagram influencers with more than 50,000 followers were identified. Influence rating, top posts, and other metrics were extracted using proprietary algorithms. RESULTS: Ninety nine influencers were identified. Of the top 10, 70% were board-certified plastic surgeons. Physicians not board-certified in a core cosmetic specialty had the highest influencer rating and number of followers. The most popular posts were of before and after photographs and personal posts. CONCLUSION: Dermatologists may be able to increase their Instagram footprint by posting frequently, especially of before and after and personal photographs, using hashtags, Instagram live and Instagram television, and Instagram stories. It is important for the dermatology community to find a way to ethically navigate social media to have a seat at the table and meet patients where they are.

Dermatology on Instagram: An Analysis of Hashtags.

Forty-two percent of Americans search for health-related information on social media platforms, and forty-five percent of consumers report that social media health information influences their decision to seek care.

The Use of Hormonal Antiandrogen Therapy in Female Patients with Acne: A 10-Year Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about how dermatologists prescribe hormonal antiandrogen acne treatment (HAAT). OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate dermatologists' HAAT-prescribing habits and HAAT's impact on systemic antibiotic use in women with acne. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study at an academic medical center of female patients receiving HAAT (combined oral contraceptive [COC], spironolactone) for acne from January 2005 to October 2015. Data from a control group of female acne patients who never received HAAT were also collected. RESULTS: A total of 672 female patients received HAAT. Out of all systemic medications for acne, antibiotics were used as first-line treatment in 39% of patients, COCs in 12%, and spironolactone in 21%. Mean antibiotic durations in patients who initiated HAAT for the first time at the study site (250.4 days) were significantly longer than in patients who received HAAT prior to presentation and continued HAAT at the study site (192.0 days) (p = 0.021). A statistically significant inverse association was found between HAAT use and mean antibiotic duration (p = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: HAAT is not typically used as a first-line systemic therapy in women with acne. HAAT usage is associated with shorter cumulative antibiotic durations and early HAAT initiation can decrease systemic antibiotic use in acne treatment.

THINKING LEAN: Improving Vitreoretinal Clinic Efficiency by Decentralizing Optical Coherence Tomography.

PURPOSE: Patients in vitreoretinal clinic have long wait times that could be reduced by improving the efficiency of patient flow. The objective of this study was to determine whether decentralizing optical coherence tomography (OCT) into the technicians' room would reduce patient wait times and improve clinic efficiency. METHODS: Randomized, single-center, clinical trial for 1 month without follow-up at Byers Eye Institute at Stanford. Subjects were return patients of three vitreoretinal specialists in March 2013. The intervention consisted of decentralizing OCT devices from the central photography suite into the technician screening rooms. Total clinic times and total wait times throughout subject appointments were recorded and compared with the control group (centralized photography suite). Secondary outcomes included frequency of injections, procedures, and primary diagnosis codes. RESULTS: Decentralized OCT reduced patient wait times by 74% and reduced total clinic appointment time by 36%. Subjects in the intervention arm experienced significantly reduced total wait time (mean difference = 15.9 minutes, P < 0.0001) and total time in clinic (mean difference = 22.9 minutes, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Decentralized OCT represents the application of lean process concepts to improve vitreoretinal clinic efficiency. Decentralized OCT reduced both the total wait time and total time in clinic for return patients in a vitreoretinal clinic.

Multiple pilomatricomas in the setting of myotonic dystrophy.

The association between multiple pilomatricomasand the autosomal dominant neurodegenerativedisorder myotonic dystrophy has been described inthe literature. Although the mechanism is unknown,it is hypothesized that the dystrophia myotonicaprotein kinase mutation in myotonic dystrophyaffects intracellular calcium levels, which alterproliferation and terminal differentiation that leads tocells that are observed in pilomatricomas. We presenta patient with multiple, symptomatic pilomatricomasand myotonic dystrophy, with a strong family historyof both of these rare disorders.

Gardner-Diamond syndrome.

Gardner-Diamond syndrome, which also is knownas autoerythrocyte sensitization disorder, is a raresyndrome of inflammatory, edematous papulesthat evolve into painful ecchymoses on the trunkand lower legs after a period of stress with no priorhistory of trauma. This syndrome usually occurs inwomen with a history of psychiatric disorders, themost common one being depression. Although theexact mechanism of injury is not well understood,it is hypothesized that these patients haveautoantibodies to phosphatidylserine, which is aphospholipid membrane component in erythrocytes.Treatment for this disorder includes symptomatictherapies and psychotropic medications to treat theunderlying psychiatric disorder.

Acral verruca-like presentation of chronic graft-vs.-host disease.

BACKGROUND: Chronic graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) is a severe and potentially fatal complication in patients after undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplant. This disease may be hard to diagnose as it has numerous cutaneous presentations. METHODS: We report four cases of patients seen at Stanford Hospital between January 2013 to December 2014 with hematologic malignancy who developed hyperkeratotic papules and plaques on the palms and soles after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant. RESULTS: In all four cases, standard treatments for verruca vulgaris failed. Histopathology uniformly showed basal vacuolar alteration at the dermal-epidermal junction and necrotic keratinocytes around the eccrine glands, consistent with GVHD. Interestingly, all four patients responded to topical immunosuppression. CONCLUSIONS: Acral verrucous lesions represent an underrecognized presentation of chronic GVHD. We describe four patients with verruca-like lesions on the palms and soles following allogeneic HSCT. Histopathology confirmed GVHD, and lesions improved with immunosuppression. It is important for dermatologists and dermatopathologists to recognize this rare presentation of cutaneous GVHD.