Papulopustular Rosacea: Response to Treatment with Oral Azithromycin. / Rosácea papulopustulosa: respuesta al tratamiento con azitromicina oral.

INTRODUCTION: Oral tetracyclines and topical antibiotics have been used to treat papulopustular rosacea (PPR) for years, but it is not uncommon to find patients who do not respond to this standard treatment. In such refractory cases, oral azithromycin has proven to be an effective option. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We conducted a prospective pilot study of 16 patients with PPR who were treated with oral azithromycin after a lack of response to oral doxycycline and metronidazole gel. At the first visit, the patients were assessed for baseline severity of PPR on a 4-point clinical scale and started on oral azithromycin. At the second visit, response to treatment in terms of improvement from baseline was evaluated on a 3-point scale. Patients were then scheduled for follow-up visits every 12 weeks to assess long-term effectiveness. RESULTS: All 16 patients experienced an improvement in their PPR following treatment with oral azithromycin. Eight weeks after completion of treatment, 14 patients (87.5%) showed complete or almost complete recovery (slight or no residual redness and complete clearance of papules and pustules). Only 2 patients experienced a new episode of inflammatory PPR lesions during follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this pilot study suggest that oral azithromycin could be a very effective short-term and long-term treatment for RPP resistant to conventional treatment.

Photocarcinogenic Risk Associated With Narrowband UV-B Phototherapy: An Epidemiologic Study in a Tertiary Care Hospital. / Riesgo de fotocarcinogénesis asociado a la fototerapia UVB-BE. Estudio epidemiológico de un hospital terciario.

BACKGROUND: The risk of skin cancer in patients treated with narrowband (NB) UV-B phototherapy is not well understood. Although experimental studies have shown that there is a risk, clinical studies have not detected an increased incidence of cancer following treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) in patients treated with NB UV-B phototherapy at a tertiary care hospital in the Mediterranean area. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective chart review of 474 patients who received whole-body NB UV-B phototherapy at our hospital between 2002 and 2016 and identified those diagnosed with NMSC during follow-up. We calculated the corresponding crude and standardized incidence rates and compared these with rates in the general population in a similar geographic area. RESULTS: Of the 474 patients, 193 (40.7%) were men and 281 (59.3%) were women. The mean (SD) follow-up period was 5.8 (3) years. The prevalence of NMSC at the end of the study period was 1.9% and the standardized incidence was 108.3 cases per 100 000 patient-years. The SIR of 1.9 in the study group was not significantly different from that of the general population. The number of patients who needed to be treated with NB UV-B phototherapy for 1 case of NMSC to occur was 1900. CONCLUSION: NB UV-B phototherapy does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of NMSC.

Pediatric Allergic Contact Dermatitis: Clinical and Epidemiological Study in a Tertiary Hospital. / Dermatitis alérgica de contacto pediátrica. Estudio clínico-epidemiológico en un hospital terciario.

BACKGROUND: Few epidemiological studies have investigated the incidence of allergic contact dermatitis in children. Underdiagnosis has been observed in some studies, with many cases in which the condition is not suspected clinically and patch tests are not performed. However, the prevalence of pediatric sensitization to allergens has been reported to be as high as 20%, and the diagnosis should therefore be contemplated as a possibility in this age group. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of the skin allergy database of the Dermatology Department of Consorcio Hospital General Universitario de Valencia. Children between 0 and 16 years of age diagnosed with allergic contact dermatitis in the previous 15 years (between 2000 and 2015) were included in the analysis. Epidemiological (age, sex, history of atopy) and clinical (site of the lesions, allergen series applied, positive reactions, and their relevance) variables were gathered. RESULTS: Patch tests had been performed on 4,593 patients during the study period. Of these, 265 (6%) were children aged between 0 and 16 years. A positive reaction to at least one of the allergens tested was observed in 144 (54.3%) patients in that group. The allergens most frequently identified were the following (in decreasing order of frequency): thiomersal, cobalt chloride, colophony, paraphenylenediamine, potassium dichromate, mercury, and nickel. The sensitization was considered relevant in 177 (61.3%) cases. CONCLUSIONS: More than half of the children studied showed sensitization to 1 or more allergens, with a high percentage of relevant sensitizations. All children with a clinical suspicion of allergic contact dermatitis should be referred for patch testing. As no standardized test series have been developed for this age group, a high level of clinical suspicion and knowledge of the allergens most commonly involved are required when selecting the allergens to be tested.

Treatment of Bowen Disease With Photodynamic Therapy and the Advantages of Sequential Topical Imiquimod. / Tratamiento de la enfermedad de Bowen con terapia fotodinámica y ventajas de la aplicación secuencial de imiquimod tópico.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been shown to be useful and effective in the treatment of actinic keratosis, Bowen disease, and basal cell carcinoma. We present a series of 13 Bowen disease lesions treated using PDT. Complete responses were achieved in 11 (84%) of the lesions after 3 months of treatment; at 18 months, complete responses were seen in 9 (70%) of the lesions. Patients who presented a partial response or recurrence were treated with topical 5% imiquimod and achieved complete responses. The lesions that presented partial response or recurrence were the largest lesions, between 3 and 5cm in diameter. PDT in monotherapy or combined sequentially with imiquimod is an excellent and well-tolerated therapeutic option for Bowen disease. The treatment has few adverse effects and shows satisfactory results, particularly in multiple large lesions in areas of difficult surgical reconstruction or in elderly patients with a high surgical risk.

Leukemia Cutis: A Report of 17 Cases and a Review of the Literature. / Leucemia cutis. Serie de 17 casos y revisión de la literatura.

Dermatologic manifestations of leukemia can be both specific and nonspecific (e.g., opportunistic infections, purpura and ecchymosis, Sweet syndrome). Leukemia cutis refers to the infiltration of the skin with neoplastic leukocytes and its early diagnosis has important prognostic implications. We report on 17 cases of leukemia cutis seen in our department between 1994 and 2014 and describe the characteristics of the patients (age, sex, medical history), the morphology of the lesions, and associations with systemic disease. Most of the patients were male and the most common associated malignancy was acute myeloid leukemia. The most frequent dermatologic manifestations were nodules or erythematous papules on the limbs. We describe our experience with the diagnosis and management of leukemia cutis over a period of 20 years and emphasize the importance of clinical signs in the early diagnosis of this condition.

[Tufted angiomas in childhood: A series of 9 cases and a literature review]. / Angiomas en penacho en la infancia. Serie de 9 casos y revisión de la literatura.

INTRODUCTION: Tufted angioma (TA) is a rare benign vascular tumor that mostly appears during infancy or early childhood, although there are cases reported in adults. Clinical presentation and evolution of TA can vary. Histologically, it takes on a classic appearance of vascular tufts ("cannon ball" like appearance). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective observational study was conducted that included all patients diagnosed with TA at our center in the last 20 years. RESULTS: A series of 9 cases of tufted angioma in childhood are presented, 77.7% of which were congenital. This represents a frequency higher than previously described. Spontaneous regression was observed in 55.5% of the cases, and was more frequent in the congenital TA group. Unlike other TA series reported in the literature, a higher proportion of patients with spontaneous regression was observed in this series, with a higher prevalence in females (6 out of 9 children) and predominantly located in the upper limbs. None of our patients had Kasabach-Merritt phenomenon. CONCLUSIONS: There are many ways of treating TA, but none are uniformly effective. Given the high rate of spontaneous regression in congenital or early TA, we suggest that, in the absence of other complications, monitoring would be a good option for management.