Trichotillomania (hair pulling disorder): Clinical characteristics, psychosocial aspects, treatment approaches, and ethical considerations.

Trichotillomania (hair pulling disorder) is a fairly common but underreported disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of pulling hair from different parts of the body. Currently classified in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders (DSM-5) under the heading of the "Obsessive-compulsive spectrum and related disorders." The estimated prevalence data suggest that 0.5-2% of the general population suffers from this disorder. Stress and anxiety are directly correlated to the production of trichotillomania symptoms. The psychosocial aspects of trichotillomania are greatly underestimated, but recent literature suggests an increased interest in this neglected area. Although no FDA approved medications are available for the treatment of trichotillomania, a variety of medications including N-acetylcysteine have shown benefit in case reports. Combined liaison clinics, with an interdisciplinary approach, are highly advisable in the treatment of these cases.

Exploring practices of Dermatologists in Ethical Dilemmas in Pakistan: A narrative analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Specialists in dermatology come across ethical issues in their practice. The topic is subjective so dialogue and reflection is required. The main objective of this study was to explore how dermatologists deal with ethical dilemmas in their clinical practice. METHODS: This was a qualitative narrative analysis. It was conducted by involving dermatologists working in tertiary care hospitals across Pakistan from January to June 2017. Open ended semi structured in-depth interviews of twelve dermatologists were recorded and transcribed manually through transcribers verbatim. Thematic interactional analysis was done by NVivo 11. RESULTS: Ethical dilemmas were narrated. Thematic analysis showed that compromises in standard medical and ethical practices were made on academics and training. Ethics were left to individual choice. Consultation of patients suffered due to quality of patient physician relationships and breeched patient's confidentiality. In cosmetic dermatology unrestrained role of media, injudicious procedures and improper counseling created difficulties. Pharmaceuticals relation revolved around conflict of interest. In sexually transmitted diseases disclosure were difficult due to sociocultural limitations. In teledermatology practices patient's confidentiality and consent were compromised while consultation remained challenging for dermatologists being visual only. CONCLUSION: Dilemmas appearing in everyday life needs peer discussion, reflections and protocols that should be role modeled.

Structured Case-Based Ethics Discussion for Trainees and Faculty on Dermatopathology.

Introduction: Ethical and professional dilemmas are part of the day-to-day practice of medicine, including within dermatopathology (e.g., ethical implications of self-referring skin biopsies for pathology interpretation). There is a need for teaching aids that dermatology educators can easily access to help provide ethics education. Methods: We held an hour-long, faculty-facilitated, interactive, virtual discussion about ethical issues in dermatopathology. The session followed a structured, case-based format. We administered anonymous online feedback surveys after the session and used the Wilcoxon signed rank test to compare participants' before and after responses. Results: Seventy-two individuals from two academic institutions participated in the session. We collected 35 total responses (49%) from dermatology residents (n = 15), dermatology faculty (n = 14), medical students (n = 2), and other providers and learners (n = 4). Feedback was largely positive, with 21 attendees (60%) indicating they learned a few things and 11 (31%) indicating they learned a great deal. Additionally, 32 participants (91%) indicated they would recommend the session to a colleague. Our analysis showed that attendees had a greater self-perceived level of achievement for each of our three objectives after the session. Discussion: This dermatoethics session is structured so as to be easily shared, deployed, and built on by other institutions. We hope that other institutions will use our materials and results to improve upon the foundation presented here and that this framework will be used by other medical specialties seeking to foster ethics education in their training programs.