A cross-sectional study to analyze the clinical subtype, contact sensitization and impact of disease severity on quality of life and cost of illness in patients of hand eczema.

BACKGROUND: The high incidence, chronicity, frequent recurrences and severity of hand eczema leads to a massive impact on the quality of life. Despite great medical and socioeconomic importance, there is a paucity of data that addresses the cost of illness and economic factors associated with hand eczema. Most of the studies have originated from Europe and none have been reported from India. AIM: To analyze the clinical subtype, the pattern of contact sensitization and the impact of severity of disease on the quality of life and cost of illness in patients of hand eczema. METHODS: Hundred patients of hand eczema were recruited and evaluated for morphological patterns of the condition, hand eczema severity index and quality of life (Dermatology Life Quality Index questionnaire). All patients were subjected to patch tests with Indian standard series, cosmetic series and personal or work-related products. The economic burden of hand eczema was measured by both its direct and indirect costs. RESULTS: Morphologically, chronic dry fissured eczema 36 (36%) was the most common pattern followed by mixed type 19 (19%), hyperkeratotic palmar eczema 15 (15%), vesicular eczema with recurrent eruption 9 (9%), nummular eczema 7 (7%) and wear and tear dermatitis 7 (7%). Seventy nine patients gave positive patch test results. Etiological profile of the most common allergens, as established with a patch test, include potassium dichromate 18 (18%) followed by cetrimonium bromide 17 (17%), nickel 16 (16%), gallate 14 (14%), garlic 9 (9%) and patient's own product 8 (8%). Allergic contact dermatitis was the most common clinical pattern of hand eczema seen in 45 (45%) patients, followed by an irritant 14 (14%) and a combination of both 13 (13%). The average total cost of illness was INR 13,783.41 (0-93,000) per individual per year with an average direct cost of INR 2,746.25 ± 1,900 and indirect cost of INR 4911.73 ± 13237.72, along with a positive correlation with the Dermatology Life Quality Index (P = 0.00). The hand eczema severity index was marginally correlated with direct costs (P = 0.07) and highly correlated with indirect costs (P = 0.024). CONCLUSION: Hand eczema has a huge impact on the quality of life and economic consequences. LIMITATIONS: In our study, parameters like Dermatology Life Quality Index and hand eczema severity index could have been affected by the chronicity of disease as being a tertiary referral centre, most of the recruited patients had severe and persistent hand eczema at the time of visit. Also, cost of illness was based on retrospective calculations on recall basis.

Lichen Nitidus Associated with Onychodystrophy and Response to Therapy: Report of Two Cases.

Lichen nitidus (LN) is a chronic inflammatory condition characterised by multiple asymptomatic shiny, flat-topped, pale to skin-coloured tiny papules. LN occurs most often in children and young adults with limbs, abdomen, chest, and penile shaft as common sites of predilection. Nail involvement is rare and includes irregular longitudinal grooving and ridging of the nail plate. We report two cases of generalised LN with nail dystrophy in 8- and 12-year-old boys along with the treatment response and review the pertinent literature.

Tuberculosis of the glans penis: an important differential diagnosis of genital ulcer disease.

We report a 45-year-old, apparently healthy sero-negative man, presenting with multiple ulcers on the glans penis for a duration of three months. There was no significant inguinal lymphadenopathy. He showed no improvement on systemic antibiotics and acyclovir. Histopathology revealed the diagnosis of genital tuberculosis (TB), and polymerase chain reaction for Mycobacterium tuberculosis tested positive. The patient responded well to category I anti-tubercular treatment with complete resolution of lesions in six months. It is important to consider a differential diagnosis of penile TB in patients with non-healing genital ulcers.