Trichotillomania and Traction Alopecia

Trichotillomania and traction alopecia are chronic habitual disorders characterized by repetitive pulling of hair that results in alopecia. They are commonly observed in children and adolescents but may present in adults due to occupational or traditional behavioral patterns. Trichotillomania (hair‐pulling disorder) has been described more than a century ago, but we still have very limited data about its etiology and treatment. It is classified under the obsessive‐compulsive and related disorders along with hoarding disorder, skin‐picking disorder (excoriation) and body dysmorphic disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM‐5; American Psychiatric Association, May 2013). Traction alopecia is defined as loss of hair caused by repetitive or continuous and prolonged tension applied to the hair, usually on the scalp periphery and associated with mechanical traction of hair due to occupational behavioral patterns such as ballerinas or traditional behavioral patterns of hairstyles that cause tension. We aim to overview the clinical and diagnostic features of trichotillomania and traction alopecia and review the therapeutic options of these disorders in this chapter

Chemerin as a marker of subclinical cardiac involvement in psoriatic patients

Background: Chemerin has been associated with psoriasis and inflammation, but there are no studies demonstrating an association between chemerin and subclinical cardiac involvement in psoriatic patients. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate whether psoriatic patients with increased epicardial fat tissue, impaired flow-mediated dilatation, and diastolic dysfunction have higher serum chemerin levels than a healthy control group. Methods: The study included 60 psoriatic patients and 32 healthy controls. Echocardiographic parameters, epicardial fat tissue, flow-mediated dilatation, and chemerin levels were recorded for both groups. Results: The serum levels of chemerin in the psoriatic patients were significantly higher than in the control group. The diastolic function parameters, including isovolumic contraction and relaxation time, E’/A’ (early diastolic mitral annular velocity/late diastolic mitral annular velocity), and E/E’ (early diastolic peak velocity of mitral inflow/early diastolic mitral annular velocity) values, differed significantly between the groups. Epicardial fat tissue was significantly higher and flow-mediated dilatation was significantly lower in psoriatic patients than in the controls. Chemerin was significantly positively correlated with age, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, waist circumference, E/E’, and epicardial fat tissue. Serum chemerin was significantly negatively correlated with E’, E’/A’, and flow-mediated dilatation. A multiple linear regression analysis showed that chemerin was independently correlated with E/E’. Conclusions: Psoriatic patients exhibit early subclinical atherosclerosis and diastolic dysfunction. Chemerin can be used as a marker to screen for patients with subclinical cardiac involvement

Inpatient dermatology consultations during COVID 19 pandemic in a tertiary referral center

Since the COVID-19 infection first appeared in December 2019, patient profile of outpatient and inpatient clinics has changed. Various cutaneous findings associated with COVID-19 have been reported in the literature. The main objective of this study was to describe and analyze the profile of the consultations requested from dermatology department during the COVID pandemic. Retrospective, cohort study. In this study, we observed the dermatology consultations of the hospitalized patients over a period of 2 months, corresponding to the peak of COVID outbreak in a tertiary care hospital in Turkey. We reviewed the inpatient dermatology consult database retrospectively. Both pediatric and adult dermatology inpatient consultations were evaluated. A total of 166 inpatient dermatology consultations were requested from dermatology department during March-May, 2020. The mean age of the patients was 53.12 (1-89) years. Almost 32.5% (n = 54) of dermatology consultations were requested from the COVID wards and the COVID intensive care unit. The second most common consultations were requested from internal medicine departments (n = 46, 27.7%). The most common indications for the consultations were cutaneous infections (36%), followed by inflammatory disorders (32%), and urticaria (11%). Dermatology consultations have an essential role on the management of hospitalized patients, especially at that pandemic time. Careful dermatological examination improves diagnostic accuracy in skin disorders and skin manifestations of COVID-19 infection that provides an early diagnosis and treatment, helps to improve the quality of the patient care and management