Daniel Asz-Sigall

HLA-DR6 association confers increased resistance to T. rubrum onychomycosis in Mexican Mestizos

Background  Onychomycosis is multifactorial in origin. Studies have suggested an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance and human leukocyte antigen DR4 (HLA‐DR4) has been shown to protect against onychomycosis in an Ashkenazi Jewish population.

Tinea Unguium: Diagnosis and Treatment in Practice

Onychomycosis is caused by dermatophytes, yeasts or non-dermatophyte molds; when caused by dermatophytes, it is called tinea unguium. The main etiological agents are Trichophyton rubrum and Trichophyton interdigitale. The most frequent types are distal and lateral subungual onychomycosis. Diagnosis usually requires mycological laboratory confirmation. Dermoscopy can be helpful and also biopsy is an excellent diagnostic method in uncommon cases or when mycological test is negative. Treatment must be chosen according to clinical type, number of affected nails and severity. The goal for antifungal therapy is the clearing of clinical signs or mycological cure.

A case series and a review of the literature on foreign modelling agent reaction: an emerging problem.

Foreign modelling agent reactions (FMAR) are the result of the injection of unapproved high‐viscosity fluids with the purpose of cosmetic body modelling. Its consequences lead to ulceration, disfigurement and even death, and it has reached epidemic proportions in several regions of the world. We describe a series of patients treated for FMARs in a specialised wound care centre and a thorough review of the literature. A retrospective chart review was performed from January 1999 to September 2015 of patients who had been injected with non‐medical foreign agents and who developed cutaneous ulceration needing treatment at the dermatology wound care centre. This study involved 23 patients whose ages ranged from 22 to 67 years with higher proportion of women and homosexual men. The most commonly injected sites were the buttocks (38·5%), legs (18%), thighs (15·4%) and breasts (11·8%). Mineral oil (39%) and other unknown substances (30·4%) were the most commonly injected. The latency period ranged from 1 week to 17 years. Complications included several skin changes such as sclerosis and ulceration as well as systemic complications. FMAR is a severe syndrome that may lead to deadly complications, and is still very common in Latin America.

Differential Diagnosis of Female-Pattern Hair Loss

A 45-year-old healthy female presented to the dermatologic clinic with a 6-month history of diffuse hair loss and thinning but no relevant medical or pharmacological history. Scalp examination showed low-density hair in a diffuse pattern, which was more pronounced in the parietal and frontal areas ( fig. 1 a). The pull test was positive. Scalp dermoscopy revealed hair-shaft thinning and a lot of yellow dots ( fig. 1 b). Two 4-mm skin punch biopsies were performed in the parietal scalp and showed a nonscarring alopecia with an increased number of catagen/ telogen miniaturized follicles ( fig. 2 a) and some follicular bulbs with melanin pigment casts and mild peribulbar lymphocytic inflammatory infiltrate ( fig. 2 b). Received: February 22, 2016 Accepted: March 24, 2016 Published online: May 5, 2016

Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia Severity Index: A Trichoscopic Visual Scale That Correlates Thickness of Peripilar Casts with Severity of Inflammatory Changes at Pathology

Background: Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is a scarring alopecia that mainly affects postmenopausal women characterized by recession of the frontotemporal hairline and eyebrow loss. Current techniques to assess FFA activity are limited and involve noninvasive tools that assess disease progression or an invasive technique such as scalp biopsies. However, since progression of FFA is very slow, it is very important to develop a noninvasive technique to assess disease activity to monitor treatment response. Objectives: To provide a standardized and objective method to assess FFA activity. Methods: We evaluated the correlation between trichoscopy and pathological features (degree of lymphocytic infiltration) in 20 dermoscopy-guided biopsies of FFA. At trichoscopy, we divided the severity of peripilar casts into 3 grades according to their thickness. To validate the trichoscopic visual scale, we showed the images to 7 dermatologists with interest in hair diseases. Concordance was assessed using the Kendall Tau-b concordance test. Results: A strong correlation between severity of peripilar casts at trichoscopy and degree of lymphocytic infiltrate was observed by the Kendall Tau-b test. Validation showed very good inter- and intraobserver agreement. Conclusion: The trichoscopic visual scale allows noninvasive assessment of scalp inflammation in FFA in different scalp regions and therefore provides optimal guidance for treatment.

Monilethrix: A case report imaged by trichoscopy, reflectance confocal microscopy and histopathology

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The Hair Shedding Visual Scale: A Quick Tool to Assess Hair Loss in Women

AbstractIntroductionHair shedding is a common consequence of the normal hair cycle that changes with internal and external factors. Female pattern hair loss (FPHL) is difficult to assess in terms of shedding severity as the conscious perception of hair shedding varies according to each individual, and most utilized methods are semi-invasive or very time consuming. In this study, we establish and validate a hair-shedding scale for women with thick hair of different lengths.MethodsA visual analog scale was developed for thick hair of short, medium, and long lengths by dividing a bundle of hairs of each length into nine piles of increasing hair amount that were then photographed and arranged in order of size. Twenty women with no FPHL with each length of hair (60 total) were asked to select the photographed hair bundle that best correlated with the amount of hair they shed on an average day. A total of 94 women with FPHL with excessive shedding were then asked to repeat the same process.ResultsWomen with no FPHL and short, medium and long hair had mean shedding scores of 2.5, 2.35 and 2.4, respectively. Women with FPHL and short, medium and long hair had mean shedding scores of 7.25, 7.0 and 7.14, respectively. Statistically significant Spearman’s ρ coefficient and κ coefficient demonstrated correlation and inter-observer reliability.ConclusionOur results show that women with FPHL not only shed considerable hair more than women with no FPHL, but that this hair-shedding visual scale is a fast and effective method of evaluating hair-shedding amounts in an office setting.

Linear Lichen Planopilaris of the Face: Case Report and Review

We describe the case of a 45-year-old man who presented with a 5-month history of unilateral pruritic linear erythematous papules and atrophy on the chin and mandibular area. Dermoscopy showed areas of cicatricial alopecia with absence of follicular openings, perifollicular erythema and pigment. Lichen planopilaris of the face is a rare variant with only 13 cases reported in the literature.

Type I reaction in a borderline leprosy case successfully treated with multidrug therapy and ofloxacin

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