Nevoid hyperkeratosis of the nipple and the areola.

A 25-year-old woman presented to our dermatology unit with progressive diffuse thickening of the both areolas. A skin biopsy was taken from the right areola showing irregular filiform acanthosis with elongation and anastomosis of rete ridges, irregular orthokeratotic hyperkeratosis, pseudocyst formation, and hyperpigmentation of the basal layer. The cause of nevoid hyperkeratosis of the nipple and areola is unknown.

Photoletter to the editor: Postradiation sarcoma.

Postradiation sarcomas are rare and highly malignant tumors which may appear as a consequence of radiotherapy. They may originate on bone or soft tissues.We report the case of a patient who developed a malignant fibrous histiocytoma 35 years after radiotherapy for a melanoma on her right leg.

Photoletter to the editor: Response of linear porokeratosis to photodynamic therapy in an 11-year-old girl.

Porokeratoses are a group of different entities that belong to the skin keratinization disorders. From the histological point of view the main and common characteristic of these disorders is the presence of compact parakeratotic columns known as cornoid lamellae. All varieties should be carefully treated and followed-up because of the risk of developing malignant epithelial tumors.

Oral Cyclosporine Weekend Therapy: A New Maintenance Therapeutic Option in Patients with Severe Atopic Dermatitis.

Cyclosporine A (CyA) is a systemic therapy used to control severe atopic dermatitis (AD) in children, but its use may be associated with serious side effects. Intermittent short-course therapy has been used to minimize these risks without the loss of clinical benefits. We conducted a 20-week study using intermittent short-course CyA therapy in five patients with severe AD and a Scoring Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) score >40.

[Utility of skin ultrasound in the differential diagnosis of blue lesions, hydrocysts].

Many skin diseases may present as blue papules and nodules; the differential diagnosis includes such different entities such as metastatic melanoma, angioma, lipoma, epidermoid cyst, pilomatrixoma, blue nevus, glomus tumor, or hidrocystoma. Cutaneous ultrasound can be a complementary diagnostic technique of great value in these cases.

Photoletter to the editor: Psoriatic erythroderma associated with bullous pemphigoid: clinical appearance and histopathology.

Psoriasis and bullous pemphigoid represent two clinically well-characterized, chronic, inflammatory skin conditions. The concomitant occurrence of these two entities in a patient is rare. We report a 62-year-old male with personal history of psoriasis vulgaris who developed disseminated bullous pemphigoid associated with psoriatic erythroderma.

Study of shrinkage of cutaneous surgical specimens.

Background: The assessment of discrepancies between surgical and histopathological measurements of specimens is important in order to avoid repeat surgery and unnecessary follow-ups.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to quantify the degree, time and influential factors of shrinkage of cutaneous surgical specimens.

Methods: Data of 111 patients were gathered on age, sex, localization, diagnosis and specimen width and length before surgical excision (in vivo), at 5 min postsurgery (ex vivo) and after 24 h of fixation in 10% buffered formalin (postfixation).