Clinical and trichoscopic graded live visual scale for androgenetic alopecia

Introduction: Currently, the mostly used classifications of androgenetic alopecia (AGA), only provide a macroscopic and subjective description of this disorder, without evaluating trichoscopic features. Objective: The aim of this study is to elaborate a graded live visual AGA severity scale including macroscopic and microscopic (trichoscopic) pictures, and to determine the most frequent trichoscopic characteristics associated to each grade. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted on 122 patients (50 females and 72 males) affected by AGA. Macroscopic and trichoscopic photographs were taken at standardized scalp points. Results: Each picture was ranked from AGA stage I to VII, according to Hamilton scale for men and Savin scale for women, and the most representative images of each severity degree were collected to produce a graded live visual scale. In males, two live visual scales, one for the anterior and one for posterior region of the scalp were created. In females, only one scale of the anterior region was realized. For each stage of severity, the corresponding trichoscopic parameters were statistically analyzed. Conclusions: We realized new macroscopic and trichoscopic graded live visual scales for male and female patients affected by AGA, which could help physicians in giving an objective evaluation of the disease and in better managing it

An incomplete form of childhood Behçet's disease treated with infliximab.

Behçet's disease (BD) is a multi-systemic vasculitis characterized by the possible presence of cutaneous, ocular, articular and neurological manifestations. In this report, we examine the case of a fifteen-year-old boy with an incomplete form of juvenile Behcet's disease which began with joint involvement and developed into a complete form only after several years. The patient showed a rapid response to anti-TNF-alpha (infliximab) with an improvement of mucocutaneous lesions (oral and genital ulcers, pseudofolliculitis) and arthritis

An unusual case of neonatal mastocytoma

Mastocytosis is a group of disorders characterized by the accumulation of mast cells in various tissues. In this article we report an interesting case of cutaneous mastocytoma in a 3-month-old infant. We describe two episodes characterized by an exacerbation of the skin lesion with the typical Darier’s sign. Both of them occurred after breastfeeding. In both episodes, the mother had eaten shrimps before the breastfeeding. This peculiar case, difficult to understand regarding its pathogenesis, was successful resolved just with dietary prescription given to the breast feeding mother

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. Moreover, none of the treatments or devices commonly used to treat AA are specifically approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The Italian Study Group for Cutaneous Annexial Disease of the Italian Society of dermatology proposes these Italian guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of Alopecia Areata deeming useful for the daily management of the disease. This article summarizes evidence-based treatment associated with expert-based recommendations

Systemic mastocytosis presenting with gastrointestinal, bone and skin involvement

Ultrasonography (US) is often the first imaging study performed in patient with abdominal pain or vague symptoms related to the gastrointestinal tract. To this end, it has been demonstrated that transabdominal sonography achieves good to excellent results in potential bowel disorders; especially, if ultrasonography findings are framed in the context of clinical information. Systemic mastocytosis is not a common disease and it usually involves skin, gastrointestinal tract and bone. It results from a clonal neoplastic proliferation of abnormal mast cells and clinically it can ranges from 'asymptomatic' with normal life expectancy to 'highly aggressive'. Symptoms are caused by the release of mast cells mediators, such as histamine, and by the increase bulk of mast cells in the tissue. We present herein a case of systemic mastocytosis presenting with abdominal symptomatology due to thickened colonic involvement showed by US associated with bone and skin involvement