Alcohol, psoriasis, liver disease, and anti-psoriasis drugs.

Over the last years, data have been accumulating regarding a possible association between alcohol and psoriasis. While it is still unclear whether alcohol misuse represents a true risk factor or merely an epiphenomenon of the cutaneous disease, a number of studies support the role of ethanol and its metabolites as triggering factors of psoriasis. A drinking habit also appears to exacerbate a preexisting psoriasis, and the magnitude of alcohol consumption may be related to both a higher incidence and severity of psoriasis.

Recurrence of erythema induratum of Bazin in a patient under chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Erythema induratum of Bazin (EIB) is a chronic nodular eruption occurring on the lower legs of young and middleaged women which is considered the most common tuberculid. A 54-year-old woman, in treatment with chemotherapy for breast cancer, presented subcutaneous erythematous plaques and nodules on the lower limbs. She had been diagnosed with EIB 3 years earlier and diagnostic work-up showed at that time signs suggestive of latent tuberculosis.

Zoster ... "a lmost" ... sine herpete: diagnostic utility of real time-polymerase chain reaction.

Zoster sine herpete is a particular form of varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection characterized by segmental pain and dysesthesia, without any cutaneous lesions ever becoming perceptible. This report describes the case of a female patient, presenting with intercostal pain associated with a single papulo-vesicular lesion localized within the same area. Thanks to such a lesion, real time-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis on vesicle fluid swab was possible, thus revealing a significant number of VZV genome copies.