BACKGROUND: Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is a cicatricial alopecia with rapid epidemic growth. However, there is no agreement on the best therapeutic approach. AIMS: To compare the therapeutic effects of finasteride as a first-line systemic treatment of FFA versus hydroxychloroquine as a relatively safe and effective immunosuppressive drug. METHODS: Thirty-four female FFA patients were randomly assigned to receive either 400 mg/day of hydroxychloroquine or 2.5 mg/day of finasteride for 6 months. Topical treatments in both groups include pimecrolimus, mometasone, and minoxidil. Treatment efficacy was evaluated using the Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia Severity Score (FFASS), photography, and trichoscopy after 3 and 6 months. RESULTS: Both the finasteride and hydroxychloroquine groups showed significant improvements in FFASS and trichoscopic scores (p < 0.01). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups during the study. Photographic assessment showed that more than 60% of patients in both groups had improved without statistically significant differences between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Both finasteride and hydroxychloroquine are equally effective, safe, and well-tolerable for treating FFA patients.
Finasteride , Lichen Planus , Humans , Female , Finasteride/therapeutic use , Hydroxychloroquine/adverse effects , Alopecia/drug therapy , Alopecia/epidemiology , Treatment Outcome , Minoxidil
Leukemia cutis is a rare cutaneous manifestation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) which mostly occurs in the late stages of the disease. We reported an unusual case of a patient with leukemia cutis that developed before the diagnosis of CLL and mimicked cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). A 52-year-old female presented with an ulcerative nodule on the right forearm. The lesion initially was suspected of being cutaneous leishmaniasis; however, the examination of skin lesion biopsy revealed a dense, diffuse, and monomorphous infiltration of lymphocytes in the dermis. Furthermore, immuno-histochemistry analysis of skin lesion biopsy was indicative of small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). The result of laboratory tests showed high white blood cell and lymphocyte counts. The results of bone marrow smear, flow cytometric analysis, and computed tomography of the abdomen and pelvis were suggestive of CLL/SLL (stage I). This case has clinical implications for early diagnosis and management of CLL/SLL.
Key Clinical Message: Necrobiosis lipoidica is a rare cutaneous granulomatous disease that mainly affects diabetic patients. The perforating type of the disease is an uncommon variant that is resistant to therapy and can be easily identified using dermoscopy. Abstract: Perforating necrobiosis lipoidica (NL) is a rare NL variant that primarily affects patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Dermoscopy helps to differentiate this type of disease. The disseminated form of perforating NL mainly occurs in the setting of DM. Here we present a case of disseminated perforating NL in a 24-year-old woman with type 1 DM.
Connective tissue nevus is a hamartoma composed of excess amounts of one or several components of the dermis, such as collagen, elastin, and proteoglycans. This report introduces a 14-year-old girl with grouped flesh color papules and skin color nodules distributed unilaterally with a dermatomal pattern. These lesions involved more than one segment. Histopathology is the gold standard for diagnosing collagenoma and mucinous nevus. We reported the first case of mucinous nevus with multiple collagenoma that shows the specific clinical features.
BACKGROUND: Dermatologic signs and symptoms can be the manifestations of a single disease or different diseases, and it is proven that some are associated with one another. These connections are not fully understood, but the answer lies in the pathophysiology of each disease. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the case of a 6-year-old Middle-Eastern girl who presented with two skin lesions on the dorsum of her foot, along with scaling of her soles and palms, face skin discoloration, and areas of patchy alopecia on her scalp. She was diagnosed as a case of acute onset of granuloma annulare with alopecia areata and dermatitis. The treatment regimen for the patient's scalp consisted of topical minoxidil and betamethasone and three sessions with 1-month intervals of triamcinolone acetonide intralesional injections, which demonstrated modest effectiveness in treating alopecia areata. CONCLUSION: Granuloma annulare is a benign inflammatory illness with no known cause that might be difficult to cure. The clinical course and prognosis might vary greatly depending on the disease subtype, and associating symptoms and diseases, such as alopecia areata, should be considered.
Alopecia Areata , Granuloma Annulare , Female , Humans , Child , Alopecia Areata/complications , Alopecia Areata/drug therapy , Granuloma Annulare/complications , Granuloma Annulare/drug therapy , Granuloma Annulare/pathology , Glucocorticoids/therapeutic use , Scalp/pathology
Proteus syndrome (PS) is a rare syndrome characterized by asymmetric limb overgrowth, vascular malformation, and hamartomas. In this study we report a case of PS in a 13-year-old girl with chief complaint of a new cutaneous lesion that was diagnosed and treated as leishmaniasis.
Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory and granulomatous disorder, developed due to dysregulation between immune response and certain environmental antigens. We hereby report an interesting case of sarcoidosis following COVID-19 vaccination (COVIran Barekat), which presented with inflammation of previous tattoo sites as well as the development of erythema nodosum and systemic lymphadenopathy, suggested a possible link between the COVID vaccination and dysregulation of the inflammatory process and served as a reminder for clinicians to have enough vigilance before proposing a vaccine booster to these patients.
Prurigo pigmentosa (PP) is a rare skin disorder presenting as erythematous urticarial papules on the chest and leaving reticulated pigmentation. Although the etiology of PP is unknown, conditions associated with ketosis such as diabetes mellitus, ketogenic diet (KD), and anorexia nervosa are implicated. Herein, we report a 21-year-old woman who developed PP after adhering to a KD and responded to resuming a regular diet.
Background: Lichen planopilaris (LPP) is a rare inflammatory disorder of the scalp that causes cicatricial alopecia. No therapeutic approach has been approved for this disease due to the rare frequency. Methotrexate and corticosteroid are commonly considered second- or third-line therapy. The efficacy of a combination of methotrexate and corticosteroid has been reported in some dermatological and immunological diseases. However, the efficacy of this combination in LPP is not clear. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the impact of methotrexate alone and in combination with corticosteroid on LPP. Materials and Methods: This randomized clinical trial was performed on 28 patients who referred to the dermatology clinic affiliated with Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran during February 2015-December 2016, and 24 of them completed the trials. Fourteen patients received 15 mg methotrexate per week alone and the other fourteen subjects received 200 mg prednisolone plus 15 mg methotrexate per week. The primary outcome was Lichen planopilaris activity index (LPPAI) score. Moreover, we evaluated photographic changes and symptoms during the study. Results: The mean of LPPAI in both groups decreased during the follow-up with a similar pattern of LPPAI changes in both groups. No statistically significant difference was found between the two intervention groups regarding the LPPAI score. We found no difference in the symptoms and photographic assessments in methotrexate and combination therapy groups during follow-up. In both groups, exclusively one adverse effect was reported. Conclusions: Our results showed that methotrexate therapy with and without corticosteroids had similar efficacy and safety.
Objectives: To investigate the histopathological characteristics of cutaneous melanoma in Isfahan from 2013 to 2018, according to histopathological subtype, lesions location, Clark level, and Breslow thickness. Methods: A descriptive, retrospective study in reports of Alzahra Hospital and Dr. Rajabi Pathology Laboratory in Isfahan. Results: In total, 45 patients were included in this study. The most prevalent histopathological subtype was acral lentiginous melanoma (48.89%), followed by lentigo maligna melanoma (17.78%), nodular melanoma (11.11%), and superficial spreading melanoma (8.89%). Most malignant lesions were on the foot and toes (31.1%) and face (24.4%). Tumor invasion level was mainly at Clark level IV (42.2%). Furthermore, the mean depth of tumor penetration (Breslow thickness) was 3.87 ± 3.35. Conclusions: Our study revealed the characteristics of melanoma in the Iranian population. Our results showed a similar trend with previous studies in the Asian population. Further investigations are needed to elucidate the role of ethnic and environmental risk factors for developing melanoma in different populations.
BACKGROUND: Fusarium species are saprophytic fungi with a worldwide distribution. These fungi cause various infections among immunocompromised patients; however, they can also involve immunocompetent individuals. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of a 41-year-old Iranian woman who presented with ulcerative lesions on her lips 10 months ago. She had a long history of anxiety but had no history of classical risk factors such as trauma, cosmetic lip tattoo, burning in her lips, smoking or use of alcohol and opium. A skin biopsy from the lower lip was performed and sent for microbiological examinations. Hyaline septate hyphae were seen on direct microscopy with potassium hydroxide. The clinical specimen was subcultured on sabouraud dextrose agar with chloramphenicol and prepared for antifungal susceptibility testing and molecular identification. Considering the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) for antifungals, itraconazole (100 mg orally twice a day) was started for her, and after 2 months, the lesions were treated. She followed up for 3 months, and no signs of disease recurrence were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Selecting an appropriate treatment strategy according to the laboratory assessments is essential in clinical practice and the management of rare infections to prevent related mortality and morbidity of opportunistic fungal infections.
Fusarium , Itraconazole , Adult , Agar , Antifungal Agents/therapeutic use , Chloramphenicol , Female , Glucose , Humans , Iran , Itraconazole/therapeutic use , Lip , Opium , Ulcer/drug therapy
Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP) is an exanthematous condition, predominantly occurring as a result of drug reactions. We, hereby, present the first case of AGEP following treatment with remdesivir in a patient with COVID-19, without hydroxychloroquine use, which serves as a reminder to consider remdesivir as a possible causative agent when dealing with AGEP presentation in COVID patients.
Tyrosine kinase inhibitors are anticancer drugs that disrupt signal transduction pathways in protein kinases by different mechanisms. This group of pharmacologic agents has significantly improved the outcome of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. However, their effect is not limited to cancer cells, and various complications, particularly cutaneous reactions, have been reported. We report a very rare case of a 35-year-old female with a history of chronic myeloid leukemia who presented with elephantine psoriasis after the treatment with nilotinib. Conclusions: This case highlights a critical side effect of tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Awareness of this subject can be useful for better management of similar patients.
Radiotherapy was commonly applied to treat benign skin diseases such as tinea capitis. Some patients treated with radiation have developed skin malignancies over the years. This article reported a 72-year-old man presenting with two distinct non-melanoma skin tumors on his scalp, including squamous cell carcinoma and metastatic pleomorphic sarcoma.
BACKGROUND: Umbilical endometriosis is a rare entity accounting for 0.5-4% of cases with endometriosis. CASE PRESENTATION: Here we report a rare case of umbilical endometriosis with concurrent ovarian endometriomas in a 37-year old primiparous Iranian woman. CONCLUSION: This interesting coexistence reflects the importance of thorough gynecological assessment in patients with cutaneous endometriosis to enable appropriate management.
Endometriosis , Skin Diseases , Adult , Endometriosis/complications , Endometriosis/diagnosis , Endometriosis/surgery , Female , Humans , Iran
Development of pemphigus foliaceus (PF) following SARS-CoV-2 infection has only been reported in one patient who had received Bamlanivimab and thus might be considered as a drug-induced case of PF. Here, we reported the first case of PF arising solely after COVID infection without taking any culprit drug.
Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common form of cutaneous T-cell lymphomas and interferon α is one of the treatment modalities for MF patients. So far, various side effects have been reported in connection with interferon use, including lupus-like reaction, which is relatively rare and classified as an injection-site reactions (ISR). We report a 38-year-old female with history of MF for 2 years who developed cutaneous lesions at the sites of interferon α-2b injections. There are few reports of lupus-like reaction due to therapy with interferon in malignant melanoma and multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, but there is no report in the literature about this side effect among patients with MF.
Melanoma , Mycosis Fungoides , Skin Neoplasms , Adult , Female , Humans , Interferon-alpha/adverse effects , Mycosis Fungoides/drug therapy , Mycosis Fungoides/etiology , Mycosis Fungoides/pathology , Skin Neoplasms/drug therapy , Skin Neoplasms/pathology
Pemphigus vulgaris is an autoimmune bullous dermatosis which if occurred during pregnancy may result in neonatal complications. In this study we report a 41 years old woman with pemphigus vulgaris that triggered by pregnancy in first trimester of pregnancy followed by the premature birth of a healthy neonate.
An 82-year-old female patient presented with a recent onset of painful skin lesions in unilateral distribution on the abdominal area following the lines of Blaschko; the initial diagnosis of Varicella-Zoster infection was made. However, because the individual lesions appeared as hyperkeratotic papules and were unresponsive to antiviral therapy, a skin biopsy was performed, which revealed hyperkeratosis, suprabasal acantholysis and dyskeratosis with corps ronds and grains, consistent with acantholytic dyskeratotic acanthoma. Since this entity has been associated with Darier disease, whole-transcriptome sequencing by RNA-Seq was performed on RNA isolated from a lesion and from adjacent normal appearing skin, and a recently developed bioinformatics pipeline that can identify both genomic sequence variants and the presence of any of 926 viruses was applied. Two pathogenic missense mutations in the ATP2A2 gene were identified in the lesional but not in normal appearing skin, and no evidence of Varicella-Zoster infection was obtained. These findings confirm the diagnosis of segmental Darier disease due to postzygotic mutations in the ATP2A2 gene, and attest to the power of a novel single-step application of RNA-Seq in providing correct diagnosis in this rare genodermatosis.
Chickenpox , Darier Disease , Herpes Zoster , Aged, 80 and over , Darier Disease/diagnosis , Darier Disease/genetics , Darier Disease/pathology , Diagnostic Errors , Female , Herpes Zoster/diagnosis , Humans , Mutation , Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Calcium-Transporting ATPases/genetics , Transcriptome
Herpes Zoster caused by reactivation of latent Varicella-Zoster virus (VZV). The rare disseminated form of it occurred mainly in immunocompromised patients. We hereby present the first case of atypical disseminated herpes zoster in a 54-year-old woman admitted with serious COVID. In this case, disseminated herpes zoster developed by purpuric lesions mimicking vasculitis and cutaneous drug reaction. Hence, this case serves as a reminder for considering atypical presentations of cutaneous disorders in immunocompromised patients, especially those affected with severe COVID.
