Surgical management of leukoderma after burn: A review.

Burns are a common and sometimes devastating injury causing a significant amount of pain, disability, and occasionally death. Burns can have serious aesthetic and functional consequences such as pigmentary changes and formation of scar tissue. Hypopigmentation or depigmentation is often a result of partial- or full-thickness burns, which is referred to as leukoderma after burn. Thus, this study is aimed at systematically reviewing the surgical options for treating leukoderma after burn in order to gain insight into the advantages, disadvantages, and future implications of each surgical technique. The surgical procedures reviewed include dermabrasion with thin split thickness grafting, epidermal cell suspension spray, suction blister epidermal minigrafting, minigrafting, cultured epithelium, noncultured keratinocyte suspension, and chip skin grafting.

Association of Human Papillomavirus Vaccine With the Development of Keratinocyte Carcinomas.

Importance: Keratinocyte carcinomas (KCs), consisting of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) and basal cell carcinomas (BCCs), are the most common human malignant neoplasms. Several risk factors have been implicated in KC development. For some SCCs, particularly those in immunocompromised patients, human papillomavirus (HPV) may be an important factor. Objective: To determine whether quadrivalent HPV vaccination would affect the development of KCs in immunocompetent patients with a history of multiple KCs. Design, Setting, and Participants: Two patients with a history of multiple KCs-a man in his 70s (patient 1) and a woman in her 80s (patient 2)-were treated in a private dermatology practice. Each patient received 3 doses of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine at 0, 2, and 6 months in 2013, and both patients underwent full-body skin examinations at least every 3 months. Biopsy-proven skin cancers were recorded for 16 months (for patient 1) or 13 months (for patient 2) after the first dose of vaccine and then compared with the number of biopsy-proven skin cancers recorded over a similar period before the first dose of vaccine. The period of observation was from October 18, 2011, to June 21, 2014. Main Outcomes and Measures: The numbers of new SCCs and BCCs after the first dose of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine. Results: Patient 1 had a mean of 12 new SCCs and 2.25 new BCCs per year before vaccination. After vaccination, he developed 4.44 SCCs and 0 BCCs per year, a 62.5% reduction in SCCs and a 100% reduction in BCCs. Patient 2 had a mean of 5.5 new SCCs and 0.92 new BCCs per year before vaccination. After vaccination, she developed 1.84 SCCs and 0 BCCs per year, a 66.5% reduction in SCCs and a 100% reduction in BCCs. The quadrivalent HPV vaccine was well tolerated by both patients and had no adverse effects. Conclusions and Relevance: A reduction of SCCs and BCCs was observed in 2 patients after administration of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine. These findings highlight the possibility that cutaneous SCC development, and perhaps BCC development, may be driven in part by HPV in immunocompetent patients. Human papillomavirus vaccination may represent an efficacious, cost-effective, readily available, and well-tolerated strategy for preventing KCs.

A Unique Case of Progressive Hemi-facial Atrophy Successfully Treated with Methotrexate.

The effects of many dermatologic syndromes are not exclusive to the skin. Disorders commonly involve a complex interplay between multiple organ systems, thus not relying solely on the dermatologist for proper work up, diagnosis, and treatment. Morphea is one such rare disease which involves progressive loss or atrophy of subcutaneous tissue, muscle, and bone with a relatively mysterious etiology. The initial lesion of morphea can be subtle and appear as a pink to red plaque without any additional symptomatology. A biopsy at this early stage is non-specific and will only show the presence of a T cell infiltrate, vascular swelling, and edema. This active or progressive stage will continue for years before "burning out," or halting progression, although still affecting underlying tissues. Many times, the sclerosis becomes severe enough to cause deformity and secondary systemic symptoms. Five general subtypes of morphea exist, including: plaque-type, linear, deep, guttate, and nodular. In this paper, the authors report a case report of a rare subtype of linear morphea called Parry Romberg syndrome, also known as progressive hemi-facial atrophy (PHA). PHA usually involves at least one branch of the trigeminal nerve unilaterally. The authors will emphasize the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to diagnose and treat this disorder while also considering the multiple theories surrounding its pathophysiology.

Keloidal Atypical Fibroxanthoma: Case and Review of the Literature.

Keloidal atypical fibroxanthoma (KAF) has recently been categorized as a variant of atypical fibroxanthoma. This paper will emphasize the importance of including KAF in both clinical and histological differential diagnosis of benign and malignant lesions which exhibit keloidal collagen and will also review the current literature on epidemiology, pathogenesis, histology, immunochemistry and treatments.

Role of whole bone marrow, whole bone marrow cultured cells, and mesenchymal stem cells in chronic wound healing.

INTRODUCTION: Recent evidence has shown that bone marrow cells play critical roles during the inflammatory, proliferative and remodeling phases of cutaneous wound healing. Among the bone marrow cells delivered to wounds are stem cells, which can differentiate into multiple tissue-forming cell lineages to effect, healing. Gaining insight into which lineages are most important in accelerating wound healing would be quite valuable in designing therapeutic approaches for difficult to heal wounds. METHODS: In this report we compared the effect of different bone marrow preparations on established in vitro wound healing assays. The preparations examined were whole bone marrow (WBM), whole bone marrow (long term initiating/hematopoietic based) cultured cells (BMC), and bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC). We also applied these bone marrow preparations in two murine models of radiation induced delayed wound healing to determine which had a greater effect on healing. RESULTS: Angiogenesis assays demonstrated that tube formation was stimulated by both WBM and BMC, with WBM having the greatest effect. Scratch wound assays showed higher fibroblast migration at 24, 48, and 72 hours in presence of WBM as compared to BM-MSC. WBM also appeared to stimulate a greater healing response than BMC and BM-MSC in a radiation induced delayed wound healing animal model. CONCLUSIONS: These studies promise to help elucidate the role of stem cells during repair of chronic wounds and reveal which cells present in bone marrow might contribute most to the wound healing process.