Dermatology and Cosmetic

Editorial Note

Mansour Nassiri Kashani

No Abstracts No Abstracts No Abstracts

Evaluation of serum osteopontin level in patients with alopecia areata compared to healthy subjects

Maryam Ghiasi

Background and Aim: Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease of hair follicle. Osteopontin is an early T lymphocyte activator that may play a role in some immunological diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the serum level of osteopontin in patients with alopecia areata and compare it with the level in normal subjects.

Methods: 54 patients with alopecia areata who presented to the Razi Hospital in Tehran in 2017 and 2018 were enrolled. Half of the patients had severe disease and half of them had mild disease. Also, 52 healthy subjects were selected as control group (age and sex matched). The severity of disease was determined using SALT Score. Serum osteopontin levels were measured by ELISA method.

Results: The results showed that serum osteopontin levels were significantly higher in patients with alopecia areata than healthy subjects. There was no significant relationship between osteopontin level and SALT score or duration of the disease.

Conclusion: The level of osteopontin is higher in AA patients than normal subjects but it does not correlate with the severity of disease.

Usefulness of WhatsApp for teaching diagnosis of skin conditions to interns

Nikoo Mozafari

Background and Aim: Distance E-learning has been proved as an efficient modality of learning in medical education. Use of “social media” for e-learning is an emerging issue in medical education. There is no study about WhatsApp in the medical education literature from Iran. To determine the effectiveness of the WhatsApp application, for dermatology education to 6^th year medical students (interns).

Methods: This research is a quasi-experimental study. Every month a WhatsApp group was created by mentor as group administrator and all interns joined the group as members. Various cases of Common skin diseases were presented by mentor in the group and using educational method of question and answer, mentor helped Interns to make the correct diagnosis. At the end of 30 days teaching practice schedule, a questionnaire was distributed among the interns and their feedbacks regarding their experience in the group, were gathered.

Results: Over a 6-month period, A total of 61 people were included in the study. an average of 50 cases per month were discussed. 97%of the participants were satisfied of using WhatsApp for dermatology education and majority of them found the discussions very useful in improving interpersonal relationship and improving their ability to diagnose real dermatology cases.

Conclusion: This study showed that WhatsApp is a suitable tool for teaching dermatology to interns, and the increasing use of this tool will help improving medical education.

Prevalence of skin complaints in middle-aged and elderly male population

Batool Mousavi

Background and Aim: National studies on the prevalence of skin problems of the Iranian are very limited. The aim of this study was to determine the skin complaints of adult male population.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1419 men over 35 years from 32 provinces participated by invitation. Demographic information, underlying disease history and presence of skin problems/diseases were collected by dermatologists. The participants were evaluated in terms of the presence of skin complaints (itching, burning, dry skin, redness, scaling, and skin color change); and any skin complaints with type, severity and location.

Results: About one third 31.6% of the Iranian male middle-aged and elderly, had an underlying disease (n=449). High blood pressure, diabetes, and neurological disorders constituted 79.7% of the chronic diseases. In total, n=344 persons (24.2%) were rated as having skin complaint. Most people who had a skin complaint reported more than one skin complaint 75.6% (n=260). The most common skin complaints were related to itching 14.6% (n=207) and dry skin 5.6% (23.3%) in studied population, which were mostly mild 59.3% (n=204) and localize 58.4% (n=201). The use of corticosteroids was stated in 7.2%(n=103) and the most common types of usage was oral 62.1% (n=64). There was significant correlation between skin complaint and occupational exposure (P=0.01); lower education level (P=0.05); corticosteroid usage in general (P<0.001) and both oral (P=0.02) and topical (P<0.001) corticosteroid.

Conclusion: Skin complaint is common among middle-aged and elderly Iranian men. The most common skin complaint are mostly mild and localized itching and dry skin.

Hand skin health; missed problem associated with the Covid-19 pandemic: evaluation of menopause women based on WHO standard

Maria Cheraghi

Background and Aim: Importance of hand hygiene with the COVID-19 has been raised around the world from 2019. We aimed to determine the effect of hand skin health in menopausal women during the covid-19 pandemic.

Methods: It was a cross-sectional study which has conducted on 94 subjects those were referred to menopause clinic in Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ahvaz city during September to November 1999. The tools of this study were the Personal Characteristics Questionnaire and Hand and skin self-assessment tool (Appendix 3 of “WHO GUIDELINES ON HAND HYGIENE IN HEALTH CARE “). Data has entered and analyzed by using software SPSS version 22. The level of significance was considered as less than 0.05.

Results: The mean age of women participating in the study was 53.6. The average frequency of hand washing outdoors was 5.28 and 10.43 indoors. Most women (94.7%) had reported at least some degree of skin problem and reported that their hand skin problems increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusion: Finding this study has shown that about 95% of women had felt at least one problem in their hands. During COVID-19 pandemic, hand washing with disinfectants were repeated more and more, furthers skin of the hands will be two times more damaged as compared to normal conditions, so the need to increase hand health training as part of general health, especially in older adults' women in advance.

Skin mamfestation of monkey pox: A review

Fatemeh Yazdani Hamid

The current monkeypox outbreak reawakens the concern that poxviridae have a high potential for zoonotic spillover and causing a pandemic. Much fieldwork and research have been done by health care and public health workers in Africa during previous human outbreaks, and their knowledge should inform our global response to the current outbreak. However, unusual clinical presentations now have potential implications for recognizing the disease. In addition, infections from poxviridae, such as monkeypox, have common cutaneous signs that occur early, may be related to periods of transmissibility, and can leave scarring. Therefore, dermatologists will play a key role in recognizing and diagnosing infections and educating and preparing frontline health care workers for the early detection of new cases and clusters of monkeypox.

Reviewing the nanotechnology in cosmeceuticals

Saman Ahmadnasrollahi

Cosmeceuticals are the fastest growing segment of the personal care industry, and a number of topical cosmeceutical treatments for conditions such as photoaging, hyperpigmentation, wrinkles, and hair damage have come into widespread use. In the cosmeceutical arena nanotechnology has played an important role. Using new techniques to manipulate matter at an atomic or molecular level, opening up new perspectives for the future of cosmeceutical industry. Nanotechnology-based cosmeceuticals offer the advantage of diversity in products, and increased bioavailability of active ingredients and increase the aesthetic appeal of cosmeceutical products with prolonged effects. However increased use of nanotechnology in cosmeceuticals has raised concern about the possible penetration of nanoparticles through the skin and potential hazards to the human health. This review outlines the different nanoparticles used in various classes of cosmeceuticals, and the potential risk caused by nanoparticles on exposure.

Simple technique to reduce dog ear formation at the end of skin closure in skin lesion excision

Hojjat Molaei

Background: Skin lesions and need for tissue evaluation, makes skin surgery an important part of treatment. Each excision is accompanied by skin repair. One of side effects of lesion excision is dog ear and cosmetic problems, particulary on face.

Case Report: A middle age woman presented with an old leishmaniosis scar in her face. she asked how can we remove the lesion with minimal scar. In the planned operation the lesion was excised some deeper fatty tissues at both ends. At the end of wound closure, there was not ant dog ear around wound.

Conclusion: There are numerous options to prevent and correct dog ears at the end of skin closure- depending on size and location of the lesion. in our recommended technique, subdermal fatty excision attached to the lesion, may remain minimal extra skin at the end of skin closure.