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Background and Aim: Sarcoidosis is a non-caseous granulomatous disease that can involve several organs such as lung, kidney, liver, heart and skin. In systemic sarcoidosis, skin lesions occur in 20-35% of patients. Cutaneous sarcoidosis with no systemic involvement was found in about 25% of patients. Mutation within Butyrophilin-like 2 (BTNL2) gene, rs2076530 was reported in systemic sarcoidosis. However, there is no report of evaluation of mutation in BTNL2 gene with the diagnosis of skin sarcoidosis.
Methods: In this study ten patients with skin sarcoidosis were evaluated for the mutation of rs2076530 allele in exon 5 of BTNL2 gene. This assessment was performed by the single strand conformation polymerase chain reaction (SSCP-PCR) in which the existing mutations with positive shift were deteced using directl sequence analysis. Data from sequence analysis were evaluated and blusted by means of Choroms computer software.
Results: Our results showed the BTNL2 G→A transition of rs2076530 in seven patients and three patients were normal.
Conclusion: This pilot study concludes the presence of a mutation at rs2076530 in exon 5 of BTNL2 gene in patients with skin sarcoidosis. Larger studies are needed to evaluate the role of this finding.

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Background and Aim: Hirsutism as a clinical presentation of hyperandrogenism has a negative impact on the mental health and quality of life. Therefore, determination of its prevalence and associated factors in communities are important. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hirsutism and its associated factors in dormitory students of Semnan University of Medical Sciences in Semana, Iran.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all of the female students of Semnan University of Medical Sciences dormitory were given a questionnaire which consists of three parts. The first two sections was designed to collect the demographic data and medical history including past medical history, drug history, menstrual condition and familial history of hirsutism. The third section included the grading scale of Ferrimen-Gallwey, that contains images of various parts of the body and hair growth. Participants were asked to determine their hair growth on the pictures. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) version 19. Chi squared test was used for comparison of proportions in different groups.

Results: From 330 participants, 119 students (36.1%) complained from hirsutism. 105 (31.8%) patients had mild and 14 (4.3%) students had moderate hirsutism. There was a significant correlation between hirsutism and irregular menstrual cycles, positive familial history of hirsutism, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, polycystic ovary, hypothyroidism, use of danazol, and hoarseness (P<0.05).

Conclusion: This study showed a high prevalence of hirsutism in dormitory students of Semnan University of Medical Sciences. More clinical evaluation is suggested to determine various forms of hirsutism and the underlying conditions.

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Background and Aim: Acne vulgaris is one of the most common skin diseases in adolescents and young adults. Although acne do not physically disable the patient, it can cause significant psychological morbidities. The disease etiology is not fully understood; however, there are several factors involved in the pathogenesis. The aim of this study is to investigate the seasonal variation of acne vulgaris in patients referred to skin clinic of Shohaday-e-Tajrish Hospital in Tehran in 2017.

Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study in patients diagnosed with acne vulgaris by a dermatologist. One-hundred three eligible patients were enrolled in the study. The severity of acne was graded as mild, moderate or severe. In addition to the demographic data, information on the acne severity and changes in the acne severity in summer and winter had been recorded.

Results: The average age of 103 acne patients was 24.68±6.77 years. Sixty-eight patients were female and 35 cases were male. Fifteen (14.6%) patients had mild acne, 55 (53.4%) cases had moderate acne and 33 (32%) subjects had severe disease. In the summer, symptoms improved in 34 (33%) patients, worsened in 18 (17.5%) patients, and remained unchanged in 51 (49.5%) cases. In winter, symptoms improved in 15 (14.6%) patients, worsened in 37 (35.9%) patients, and remained unchanged in 51 (49.5%) patients (P=0.001). There was no significant relationship between changes in the severity of acne in winter or summer with age, age of the disease onset or duration or severity of acne (P>0.05).

Conclusion: In the present study, the number of patients with acne exacerbation in winter was significantly higher than that in summer. This may highlight the important role of winter in increasing the acne severity; however, more comprehensive studies with more sample sizes are still needed in different geographical areas.

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Introduction: Tinea capitis is the most common skin infection on the scalp and an uncommon dermatophytosis in adults. Its clinical appearance varies greatly depending on the causative organism, the type of hair involvement and the extent of the patient inflammatory response. Its common features are fragmented hair loss with varying degrees of scaling and erythema. However, if the clinical symptoms are mild, the diagnosis can be challenging.

Case report: We report a case of tinea capitis in a 60-year-old woman who initially had few clinical symptoms and according to the biopsy result and the presence of fibrosis, lichenpilanopilaris (LPP) were diagnosed and she received related treatment with methotrexate and cyclosporine, but after 4 months, no response to treatment and exacerbation of symptoms were observed. Tinea capitis was diagnosed and the patient was given appropriate treatment.

Conclusion: Tinea capitis can imitate clinical features of lichenplanopilaris and mistreatment with corticosteroids can lead to extension of the disease.