Herpes zoster on segmental vitiligo: Wolf’s isotopic response?

“Wolf’s isotopic response” describes the occurrence of a new skin disorder at the site of another, unrelated and already healed skin disease. In most cases of isotopic response, the initial dermatosis is herpes zoster, herpes simplex, varicella, thrombophlebitis, scrofuloderma and striae distense. The most frequent second dermatoses are granulomatous reactions, particularly granuloma annulare, and lichenoid diseases. Various etiological reasons including viral, immunologic, neural and vascular have been put forth. We report here a case in which the second disease was herpes zoster that appeared over the same dermatomes of pre-existing segmental vitiligo. The occurrence of vitiligo as first and herpes zoster as second disease in the “Wolf’s isotopic response” has not, to the best of our knowledge, been reported previously

Bell’s palsy in a case of Darier’s disease – a rare disease association or coincidental finding?

Darier’s disease (DD) is a rare acantholytic dyskeratotic autosomal dominant genodermatosis characterized by the presence of warty, brown papules and plaques affecting the seborrhoeic areas. Frequent bacterial, fungal and viral particularly herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections complicate DD. Bell’s palsy is an acute onset, idiopathic facial paralysis resulting from a dysfunction anywhere along the peripheral part of the facial nerve. Reactivation of HSV is considered to be the main cause of Bell’s palsy. This case represents, to the best of our knowledge, the first case of DD presenting with Bell’s palsy. This case underlines the importance of recognizing HSV infection in DD

Male preponderance in HIV seropositive patients with mucocutaneous complaints in a tertiary care hospital in North India

Objective: A panorama of mucocutaneous manifestations is seen at every stage of HIV. This study was done to study the sex prevalence in HIV/AIDS patients with mucocutaneous disorders. Methods: A total of 1 000 HIV seropositive patients attending Skin-STD clinic, Govt. Medical College, Amritsar, for any dermatologic complaints were studied in respect to the sex group preponderance. Results: Males constituted the majority as 75.6% while females were 24.4%. Conclusions: Women, in most of the cases, get infected from their spouses, who have acquired infection through extramarital sexual contact. HIV infection in female patients increases the risk of HIV transmission to neonates and infants, thus further spreading the HIV in a community. So it is very crucial to initiate early preventive measures to reduce HIV burden