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Background and Aim: Treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis, especially when caused by L. tropica, is challenging. Meglumine antimoniate (Glucantime^®) is used as the standard treatment, but multiple injectiond are necessary. The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of weekly intralesional injections with twice weekly injections of Glucantime for the treatment of anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL).
Methods: This randomized open clinical trial was conducted, in Bam, Kerman province, Iran. 96 eligible patients according to inclusion and exclusion criteria who were willing to participate were included. The included patients were randomly assigned into two groups, one group treated with weekly intralesional injections of Glucantime^® and the other group treated with intralesional Glucantime^® twice a week. Type and size of each lesion (induration, ulcer and scar) were recorded weekly. Complete healing was defined as complete re-epithelialization and absence of induration in all lesions and was considered as the primary outcome measure.
Results: A total of 48 patients completed the study complete cure was seen in 24 of 27 (89%) patients who received weekly intralesional MA with a mean duration of healing equals to 70±10 days. Complete cure was seen in 24 of 31 (77%) patients who received intralesional MA twice a week, the mean duration of healing in the latter group was 58±5 days. There was no significant difference between the two groups (P=0.23).
Conclusion: It seems that the efficacy of intralesional injections of Glucantime^® once a week is similar to efficacy of twice a week Glucantime^® injections.

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Leishmaniasis is a group of diseases which is caused by an intracellular protozoal infection. It is the third most common opportunistic infectious disease in HIV positive patients worldwide. In this article, we present a 30-year-old women who was a known case of HIV/AIDS infection and developed multiple papules and nodules as on her face, arm and shoulder with diagnoses of diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis. PCR was performed for determination of parasites species and Leishmania tropica was identified as the causative agent. The patient was treated with parenteral amphotericine B and topical neosomal paromomycin for 3 weeks and all lesions healed without scaring.

She discontinued her anti-retroviral therapy a few months later and the lesions recurred. Finally, she died due to sepsis and pulmonary emboli.

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Background and Aim: Acne vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory disease of the pilosebaceous unit. Retinoids are used as the first line therapy in acne. Systemic absorption and skin irritation including redness, pruritus and exfoliation are some of their side effects. In this study we compared the efficacy of isotretinoin 0.05% niosomal gel versus adapalen 0.1% gel in treatment of acne vulgaris.

Methods: In this randomized double blind clinical trial, 144 patients with mild to moderate acne vulgaris aged from 15 to 30 years were enrolled. The patients were randomly allocated into two groups of A, whom were treated with isotretinoin 0.05% niosomal gel and B whom were treated with adapalen 0.1% gel. The patients were evaluated for clinical reponse, decrease in the number of inflammatory and non-inflammatory lesions and side effects after 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks of the initiation of treatment.

Results: At the end of the study the clinical responses of comedones and inflammatory lesions in isotretinoin 0.05% niosomal gel group were 68% and 79%, in comparison with 65% and 76% in the adapalen gel group,  respectively. The differences were not statistically significant. At the end of the treatment period more decrease in number of inflammatory and non-inflammatory lesions were seen in group A patients (niosomal isotretinoin) than group B (adapalen 0.1% gel) (P<0.001). Also side effect of skin redness was found more in group B (P<0.001).

Conclusion: Isotretinoin 0.05% niosomal gel has less side effects and more efficacy in the treatment of mild to moderate acne vulgaris in comparison with adapalen 0.1% gel.

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Background and Aim: Lichenoid tissue reactions are a group of skin diseases with hydropic degeneration of the basal cell layer and inflammatory infiltrations in papillary dermis. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinicopathological features of skin diseases with lichenoid tissue reaction.

Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 118 cases with lichenoid tissue reactions. Pathological and clinical features such as age, sex, location of the lesions were evaluated.

Results: 53.4% of the patients were female. Mean age of the patients was 39.9±17.37 years. Mean duration of the disease was 21.82±14.3 months. The most common site of involvement was upper limb (24%). The most frequent histopathological findings in epidermis and dermis were hydropic degeneration of the basal cell layer and papillary lymphocytic infiltration (89.9%, 85.5%, respectively). Lymphocytes were the most frequent inflammatory cells in dermis. Colloid bodies and melanin incontinency also were seen in 60.2% and 78% of cases, respectively.

Conclusion: Pathological evaluation can be helpful in differentiating skin disease with lichenoid tissue reactions, if there is a doubt in clinical diagnosis.

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Background and Aim: Care of patients with skin diseases may lead to high financial costs and burden on health system for societies and family members. In this study, we decided to evaluate the costs of treatments of patients admitted in the dermatology ward of Afzalipour Hospital, Kerman.

Methods: This is a retrospective, cross-sectional study performed from 2011 to 2017 on patients admitted in the dermatologic ward of Afzalipour Hospital. Demographic features of patients, duration of admission, cost of treatment, number and type of prescribed drugs as well as the patients’ and insurance organizations’ shares of the cost were recorded.

Results: In this study, 940 patients were evaluated for six years. The mean age of the patients was 38.05±22.35 years and most of them were female. The mean duration of admission was 8.42±2.54 days. The insurance companies’ and patients’ shares of the fees were 93.8% and 6.2%, respectively. The highest costs belonged to prescribed drugs (37.9%) and hoteling (30.3%). The most common prescribed drugs were antihistamines (33.1%), topical steroids (27.7%) and systemic steroids (24.5%). The mean number of prescribed drugs in each admission was 6.30±4.02 (range
0-20). Patients suffering from Erythema and urticaria had the total highest costs of admission (81,360,000 Iran Rials).

Conclusion: In this study, the most frequent skin diseases were infectious and papulosquamous diseases. The highest and lowest cost of admission belonged to prescribed drugs and consultations, respectively. Also, the highest cost of admission belonged to patients with erythema and urticaria.