Dermatology and Cosmetic

Quality of life in patients with psoriasis vulgaris: A case-control study

Pouyan Pahlevani

Background and Aim: Psoriasis vulgaris is a common chronic dermatic disease impresses many aspects of patients’ life. Many clinical researches focus on quality of life recently, to evaluate clinical interventions and treatments. This study planned to recognize different aspects of life in patients suffer psoriasis vulgaris.

Methods: This case-control study was performed on 100 patients suffer psoriasis vulgaris in 1391 year and 100 people who didn’t have any specific disease as control group. Quality of life was measured by standard quality of life questionnaire (SF-36) and data obtained were analyzed with chi square and t tests.

Results: Average score of SF-36 in psoriasis patients group 65.05±15.51 was significantly less than control group 78.31±11.93 (P<0.001). Difference between patients and control group was significant in all of aspects except physical and emotional aspects (P<0.05).

Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, patients with psoriasis vulgaris had a significantly lower quality of life, in comparison with the control group. Therefore, these patients require special attention and specific planning to improve and manage different aspects of their lives.

Epidemiology of skin cancer in Markazi Province, Iran

Amir Almasi-Hashiani

Background and Aim: Skin cancer is the most common malignancy in the world with high morbidity and relatively low mortality. Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common type of cancer and its incidence is increasing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of skin cancer in the years 1386 to 1390 is in the Markazi Province, Iran.

Methods: In this study the data of Markazi Province Cancer Registry were used and incidence rate was calculated per 100,000 person. Age standardized incidence rates were calculated via direct standardization method using world standard population. Finally, the data were analyzed using SPSS, Excel, and WinPepi softwares.

Results: In Markazi Province, 958 patients with skin cancer were recorded during 1386-90. The age-standardized incidence rates in these years were 21.54, 12.06, 13.79, 18.29 and 15.79 per 100,000 people respectively. There was no significant change in the trend of skin cancer incidence rates.

Conclusion: Skin cancer was higher in men than women, and most cases occur in the elderly. Development of screening programs is recommended to detect skin cancer in its early stages in older men, especially in those who have been exposed to the sun for long times.

Disability in patients with leprosy in Golestan province, Iran

Fatemeh Mehravar

Background and Aim: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease that typically affects the skin and peripheral nerves and can cause irreversible disabilities. The objective of this study was to assess the status of disability caused by leprosy in the Golestan Province in Iran.

Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, patients affected with leprosy whom were referred to Health Network in Golestan Province from April 1971 to September 2008 were studied. Sampling method was simple census method. Data collected from the medical records of patients were statistically described and analyzed.

Results: In this 38-year period, from 100 leprosy patients investigated, 68% were men. Average age was 35.6±16.4 years. The majority of cases were in rural areas (78%) and mostly were labor jobs (39%). Clinical type of the disease was multibacillary (MB) in 64% cases. 62% of patients had MDT treatment. The majority of lesions in patients were macules (15%). Performance problem were positive in 6 percent and was negative or uncertain in others. Disability was more common in male patients, and most disable patients were 35-55 years old.

Conlusion: Most leprosy patients in Golestan Province had grade 0 or 1 disability.

5-year survival of patients with bullous pemphigoid: A 20-year period study

Abbas Karimi

Background and Aim: Bullous pemphigoid is an acquired autoimmune disease with subepidermal blisters commonly seen in the elderly over 60 years old. The exact survival rate of the patients with bullous pemphigoid was not available in Iran. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors of 5-year mortality of bullous pemphigoid patients.

Methods: In this retrospective study, 66 bullous pemphigoid patients referred to Razi hospital from 1986 to 2006 were studied. Age, sex, consumed corticosteroid type, duration of hospitalization, and clinical form of bullous pemphigoid, ESR and comorbidities were evaluated to determine the risk factors associated with patients’ 5-year mortality rate.

Results:Forty-seven patients (71.2 %) had 5-year survival. The most common comorbidities were cardiovascular diseases (28.8%), diabetes (15%) and chronic respiratory diseases (9%). There was a significant relationship between the age and the 5-year survival rate, in other words patients aged over 70 years had a less 5-year survival rate (P<0.001). There was no statistically significant association with gender, the type of corticosteroid, the disease clinical forms, duration of hospitalization or ESR and 5-year survival (P>0.05).

Conclusion:The current study found a significant relationship between the age of the patients and 5-year survival. Larger studies considering more potential risk factors and more appropriate designs might help to estimate the survival rate of patients with bullous pemphigoid more precisely.

Monte Carlo simulation of laser interaction with fat tissue

Abbas Majdabadi

Background and Aim: Liposuction is one of the most popular procedures for removing unwanted body fat deposits now. The conventional methods for liposuction however have many drawbacks among them is long recovery time, scars, bruising, skin flaccidity and excessive blood loss. Considering the increasing demand for body sculpting, the need to improve these techniques is of vital importance. One of these newly proposed techniques is laser assisted lipolysis. Laser lipolysis is now widely used for body contouring and sculpting. Less trauma, bleeding and pain is among the main advantages of this method.

Methods: Photons propagation and scattering within the biological tissues can effectively investigated by using numerical methods. In this study we used the Monte Carlo simulation method to simulate photons directions, absorption and scattering inside the tissue. This method uses a random number generator for photons creation, moving inside the tissue and termination. In this simulation we considered both the wavelength and fluence variations effects on the photon absorption rate and penetration depth inside the fat tissue.

Results: Our study showed the increasing of penetration depth with decreasing of absorption coefficient. We observed that deepest penetration depth for 920 nm wavelength as it has lowest absorption coefficient. We also concluded that increasing the laser power (increase in fluence of laser) resulted in increasing the penetration depth of laser radiation. Increasing the radius of laser beam (decreasing the fluence) on the other hand resulted in reduction in penetration depth.

Conclusion: Monte Carlo simulation of radiation propagation within the biological tissue has proved to be an efficient method. This method effectively simulates the physical components of laser radiation. Our findings indicate that to have laser lipolysis more efficient and safe, it is essential to choose suitable wavelength.

Teledermatology: A comparison of reliability and accuracy of diagnoses with those in the face to face visits

Haleh Ayatollahi

It is more than a decade that teledermatology has been considered as a potential substitute for the face to face visits. To evaluate its quality, the reliability and accuracy of teledermatology diagnoses are compared to those which are made in face to face visits. In this article, the results of the studies which have compared the reliability and accuracy of diagnoses had been made using teledermatology to the face to face visits were reviewed.

Different resources, such as electronic databases and e-journals were used to choose relevant articles related to teledermatology published between 1997 and 2013, and their main focus was on the reliability and accuracy of diagnoses in teledermatology compared to those in the face to face visits.

The reliability and accuracy of diagnoses in teledermatology compared to those in the face to face visits was more than 60%. Moreover, improving the reliability and accuracy depended on different factors, such as image quality, clinical information, differential diagnoses, consultation with other colleagues and gaining their secondary opinions.

It seems that providing adequate clinical information about patients can help to improve the reliability and accuracy of diagnoses in teledermatology. In this case, teledermatology can be used to provide healthcare services for the distant areas and the poor.

Comparison of tap water and normal saline iontophoresis in idiopathic hyperhidrosis: A case report

Sakine Goljaryan

Idiopathic (primary) hyperhidrosis is defined as an excessive sweating with no clear cause and usually results in social, psychological, and professional disturbances.

In this study, tap water and normal saline iontophoresis were used in a 21-year-old female suffering from severe idiopathic palmoplantar hyperhidrosis.The result of 8 sessions iontophoresis showed that tap water and normal saline iontophoresis are effective in treatment of idiopathic hyperhidrosis. However, in contrast with other studies, normal saline iontophoresis was twice more effective than tap water iontophores. Quality of life of the patient was improved.