Striae distensae: histological and electron microscopic study

The present work was undertaken to study the histological and ultrastructural changes in the early stage of striae distensae which could be a guide to its pathogenesis. Fourteen skin specimens were taken from early erythematous stage of striae in ten females and healthy skin from four age matched females. Edema increased glycosaminoglycans in the ground substance, inflammatory infiltrate, very sparce fragmented and degenerated elastic fibers and ruptured collagen fibers were seen. The infiltrate was lymphohistiocytic with increased number of degranulated mast cells. Active fibroblasts were also seen. It can be concluded that mast cell degranulation could play a critical role in the elastolysis of early stage of striae distensae and that the elastic fiber is the primary target of the pathological process. Active fibroblasts begin to synthesize new fibers which became dense with time

Early diagnosis of mycosis fungoides by multiparametric image cytometry

In this study, image cytometry of DNA content, S phase and morphometric parameters were used as objective methods for the distinction between early mycosis fungoids [MF] and eczematous dermatitis. Ten cases of eczematous dermatitis and 20 cases of patch stage MF were studied. All the MF cases showed aneuploid histograms and all the eczematous dermatitis cases showed diploid histograms. A higher S phase fraction nuclear ploidy and DNA index and lower 2C fraction were detected in MF cases. All the 12 estimated morphometric parameters as well as the calculated nuclear contour index [NCI] were significantly higher in MF than eczematous dermatitis

Hypersensitivity to house dust mite and storage mite in relation to the clinical picture of scabies

In this study, 50 patients with the typical clinical picture of scabies were subjected to direct parasitological examination to detect sarcoptes scabiei and to estimate their skin reactivity to antigens of house dust mite [HDM], Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus [DP] and storage mite [SM] Tyrophagus putrescentia [TP]. Intradermal skin prick test [SPT] by the mentioned antigens showed highly significant positive results in patients when compared with the normal subjects. The rate of successful treatment to eradicate scabies was significantly higher among cases who had weak and negative skin reaction to DP and TP in comparison with that of cases with strongly positive SPT reaction to the same antigens