Evaluation of the Awareness, Beliefs, and Psychological Impact of Patients with Alopecia Areata in Makkah City, Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among patients diagnosed with AA at different hospitals. A total of 211 patients were included in the investigation between November 2021 and June 2022. The participants were subjected to a well-structured, Arabic-based, validated questionnaire. Results: More than half of the patients were men (54.0%) and single (50.7%). The most common age groups were 30 to 44 years (46.9%) and 18 to 29 years (36.0%). More than two-thirds of the participants (67.8%) had heard of AA before their diagnosis. Of these, the level of knowledge was low among 36.4%, medium among 42.0%, and high among 21.7%. Most of the patients believed that AA may be caused by genetic, nutritional, or health factors (77.3%) and that it is a serious health problem that necessitates treatment (64.0%). The most common psychological attributes caused by AA are feeling ashamed in front of other individuals (63.0%), anxiety (47.9%), and depression (36.0%). Conclusion: Our results show more than two-thirds of the participants were knowledgeable about AA. Most believed that the cause of AA is genetic, nutritional, or health factors and suffered negative psychological effects. According to our study, high levels of anxiety and depression are closely associated with AA patients, which affect their quality of life.

A Diagnostically Challenging Case of De Novo Febrile Ulceronecrotic Mucha-Habermann Disease with Fatal Pulmonary Involvement: A Case Report.

The febrile ulceronecrotic Mucha-Habermann disease is a rare and potentially lethal variant of pityriasis lichenoides et varioliformis acuta (PLEVA). It is characterized by a sudden onset of ulceronecrotic skin lesions associated with high fever and systemic symptoms. Herein, we report a 23-year-old male, not known to have any medical illnesses, presented with a month-long history of persistent fever of unknown origin associated with a sudden onset of progressive diffuse necrotic ulcers and widespread papulosquamous lesions. Pan CT showed enlarged lymph nodes in the cervix, chest, and abdomen. Unfortunately, a skin biopsy was done late, showing features consistent with PLEVA. Few days after admission, despite being on intravenous methylprednisolone, our patient rapidly deteriorated by showing severe acute respiratory symptoms and consequently died. In spite of the continuous addition of new case reports to the literature, no definite diagnostic criteria have been established, leading to late or missed cases, and an optimum treatment is still waiting.