The Facelift in South American Patients.

South America is a vast territory; its people were made from all parts of the world. The miscegenation made a unique population comprised of Indian, Asian, Caucasian, African, Mestizo, Mulatto, and Zambo. The South American patients tend to have a wider face with a skin-soft tissue envelope (S-STE) that is thicker, heavier, and has less elasticity than the Caucasian patient.

Contribution of nasal biopsy to leprosy diagnosis.

Background: The nasal mucosa plays the main role as the entry and the exit of leprosy bacilli and the nasal involvement may precede the skin lesions by several years. Nasal biopsy has been used in research but its clinical application has not been described. We evaluated the contribution of the nasal biopsy for the diagnosis of leprosy and its correlation to skin biopsy and skin smear in untreated patients.