Italian Guidelines in diagnosis and treatment of alopecia areata.

Alopecia areata (AA) is an organ-specific autoimmune disorder that targets anagen phase hair follicles. The course is unpredictable and current available treatments have variable efficacy. Nowadays, there is relatively little evidence on treatment of AA from well-designed clinical trials.

Vitamin D in trichology: a comprehensive review of the role of vitamin D and its receptor in hair and scalp disorders.

Vitamin D plays an important role in maintaining the homeostasis of various biological systems. Beside its well-known function in calcium and phosphate metabolism, it plays a major role in pathophysiology of skin and adnexa. Indeed, vitamin D, through its receptor (VDR), decreases keratinocyte proliferation, improves their differentiation and modulates both cutaneous innate (antimicrobial activity and antigen presentation) and adaptative immunity (T and B lymphocyte function).

Atrophic pityriasis versicolor occurring in a patient with Sjögren's syndrome.

Pityriasis versicolor is one of the most frequent epidermal mycotic infections in the world, but its atrophic variant is rarely described. The aetiology of the atrophy is still unknown, and two main hypotheses have been formulated, one suggesting a correlation with long-term use of topical steroids and the other a delayed type hypersensitivity to epicutaneous antigens derived from components of the fungus. Atrophic pityriasis versicolor is a benign disease, but needs to be distinguished from other more severe skin diseases manifesting with cutaneous atrophy.

Assessing the Impact of Atopic Dermatitis on the Patients' Parents with the Visual Instrument 'Caregiver-PRISM'.

Background: There is a need to improve the quality of communication between clinicians and parents of young patients with atopic eczema (AE).

Objective: To create a tool to measure the suffering that caregivers experience in association with their child's AE (Caregiver Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self-Measure, Caregiver-PRISM), assess the validity and reliability, and identify factors associated with caregiver suffering.

Methods: Caregiver-PRISM was administered to 45 parents of patients from an AE outpatient service (Padua, Italy).

Inframammary Dermatitis: A Case of Localized Late-Onset Darier's Disease.

Darier's disease (DD) is an autosomal dominant inherited genodermatosis which is often under- or misdiagnosed. In the majority of cases, the disease manifests in adolescents or young adults with small brownish-yellow, warty, hyperkeratotic papules in multiple seborrheic areas of the body. Localized DD (LDD) is a clinical variant, first described by Kreibich in 1906; only a few cases are reported in the literature.

Efficacy of Biofeedback and Cognitive-behavioural Therapy in Psoriatic PatientsA Single-blind, Randomized and Controlled Study with Added Narrow-band Ultraviolet B Therapy.

Increasing data suggests that there is a connection between stress and the appearance of psoriasis symptoms. We therefore performed a clinical trial enrolling 40 participants who were randomly allocated to either an 8-week cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) (treatment group) plus narrow-band UVB phototherapy or to an 8-week course of only narrow-band UVB phototherapy (control group). We evaluated the clinical severity of psoriasis (PASI), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-12, Skindex-29 and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) at baseline and by the end of the study.

Radiodermatitis after spinal arteriovenous fistula embolisation.

We report acute radiation dermatitis on a patient's back and left arm, which developed 4 weeks after endovascular embolisation of a spinal arteriovenous malformation. Vesciculation and erosions were followed by a gradual re-epithelisation of the skin resulting in rectangular hyperpigmented patches that resolved almost completely within 1 month. Fluoroscopic radiodermatitis has been reported with more frequency over the past decades because of the rise in duration and number of procedures performed under fluoroscopic guidance.

A case of psoriasis pustolosa palmaris induced by cetuximab.

Cetuximab is a monoclonal antibody that competitively inhibits the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). It is used for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer after first-line therapy. We report the first case of a pustular psoriasiform drug eruption induced by cetuximab in a patient with colorectal cancer.