Camouflage makeup improves quality of life in cancer patients with treatment-related skin changes.

BACKGROUND: Cancer treatment causes various skin appearance changes, which affect quality of life (QoL) in patients with cancer. We examined whether camouflage makeup improves QoL in these patients. METHODS: Skindex-16 and visual analogue scale scores of 39 female patients with cancer treatment-related skin changes were compared before and 2-3 months after self-administration of camouflage makeup. RESULTS: Camouflage makeup was able to conceal almost all skin changes, improving QoL scores regardless of age, diagnosis, and site of skin changes. Use frequency was significantly higher in patients with skin changes on exposed sites compared with patients with unexposed sites. CONCLUSIONS: Even though the patients applied the makeup only when required, they were satisfied with its effect, which improved their QoL. Moreover, the makeup had a positive effect even in patients with changes in unexposed sites, suggesting that clinicians can recommend camouflage makeup to all patients to improve QoL.

[Pay attention to patient's visual function in oculoplastic surgery for congenital blepharophimosis syndrome].

Blepharophimosis is characterized by the presence of a narrowed horizontal palpebral aperture, ptosis, epicanthus inversus, and telecanthus. Due to patient's eye deformity, both of his or her appearance and psychological development are affected. In some cases, blepharophimosis not only influence the appearance but also the visual development. Therefore, patients with blepharophimosis require to be evaluated the visual function before the surgery in order to prevent amblyopia. In this article, we conclude that we should pay close attention to patient's visual function before and after the surgery. The timing of surgery must weigh the balance between early surgery to prevent amblyopia and late surgery for more reliable ptosis measurement, which provides a better surgical outcome.

Evaluating the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for individuals with visible differences: a systematic review of the empirical literature.

The objective of this review was to systematically identify and evaluate all known studies testing empirically the efficacy of psychosocial intervention programmes for adults with visible differences. Twelve papers met the inclusion criteria. None of the papers demonstrated adequately the clinical effectiveness of the interventions. The review concluded that further research was needed to demonstrate adequately the effectiveness of existing interventions, and a greater number of Randomised Controlled Trials and experimental studies were required to increase the methodological validity of intervention studies.