Fordyce nodules in a buccal membrane graft to the ocular surface

Purpose: To present a case of epibulbar Fordyce nodules, with a referral diagnosis of primary tumor.Methods: Case report.Results: A 38-year-old woman was referred for ocular oncology consultation because of a conjunctival lesion in the right eye. She had had a buccal mucous graft to treat recurrent pterygium 18 years earlier. the lesion consisted of multiple small, yellow granules over a pink, thickened mucosa from the 12 to 3 o'clock meridians. Excisional biopsy revealed multiple subepithelial sebaceous glands consistent with Fordyce nodules.Conclusions: Fordyce nodules are a possible late benign complication of buccal mucous grafts.Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Paulista Sch Med, Dept Ophthalmol, BR-04024002 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Paulista Sch Med, Dept Ophthalmol, BR-04024002 São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Remembering trauma: Fugard's The Train Driver

Among Fugard's post-apartheid plays one escapes the sentimental nostalgia of his recent turn inwards - The Train Driver (2010). In it he develops a challenging sense of the country's dealings with the past by focusing on the remembering of a 'track suicide' by the white driver, whose tragic story is told by a black gravedigger. The driver's morbidly excessive reaction, the result of identifying with the victim whose grave he seeks, is balanced in performance by the sympathy and acceptance of the gravedigger. The squatter camp cemetery setting provides a liminal urban space stressing the continuity of past wrongs while the selective remembering of the nation's elite masks everyday poverty and violence

Health‐related quality of life in children at the diagnosis of Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis

BACKGROUND: Vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) is a bilateral, chronic, allergic condition mostly affecting children. Clinical evaluations may not necessarily reflect the impact of the disease on the patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We aimed to evaluate HRQoL in children at VKC diagnosis and to analyze correlations between HRQoL and clinical and laboratory variables.METHODS: We studied 5 to12 years old patients with VKC. Data on clinical history, instrumental eye evaluations, blood exams and Visual analogue scale (VAS) for the subjective symptoms were collected. HRQoL was assessed through a disease-specific validated Quality of Life in Children with Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis (QUICK) Questionnaire.RESULTS: Seventy subjects were included in the analysis (Female/Male: 10/60; Tarsal/mixed VKC form: 36/34). Clinical severity of VKC according with Bonini scale was: 14 mild, 36 moderate and 20 severe. No significant difference was found concerning distribution of patient age, gender, history of allergic manifestations between tarsal and mixed VKC. A significant positive correlation was found between all QUICK scores and VAS scores, including different VAS subscale, while no significant correlation was found between QUICK scores and total signs scores, Schirmer test, and corneal thickness. The presence of active severe VKC was not associated with worse HRQoL.CONCLUSIONS: Our evidence shows that VKC patients experience impairment of HRQoL, especially in relation to the perception of symptoms independently of the ophthalmological changes found, and that QUICK questionnaire could be a useful tool to evaluate HRQoL in children with VKC which may improve patients' classification and management