The Use of Medical Devices for Medical Skin Care and the Legal Issues / 대한피부과학회지

BACKGROUND: Medical skin care is essential for the treatment of skin diseases all over the world. Medical skin care is also part of medical practice and this must be differentiated from the simple skin care that is given for normal healthy skin. OBJECTIVE: We wanted to discuss medical skin care and the related medical devices and legal issues. METHODS: We reviewed the related laws and regulations, we consulted experts and associations and we analyzed the result of the survey. RESULTS: Legally, medical skin care and simple skin care are well classified. However, many illegal procedures are still performed by non-medical personnel and many adverse effects have been reported as a result. Furthermore, there are no legal restrictions for the performer based on the grade of each medical skin care procedure. CONCLUSION: For the best results and safe procedures, medical skin care must be performed by approved medical equipment under the supervision of a physician or medical personnel. Continuous control and guidance by the government is strongly needed.

Behcet's disease sera containing antiendothelial cell antibodies promote adhesion of T lymphocytes to cultured human dermal microvascular endothelial cells

Antiendothelial cell antibodies (AECA) have been detected in the sera of patients of autoimmune diseases showing vasculitis. Using IgM-ELISA, we found AECA in 42 (56%) of 75 sera samples from patients with Behcet's disease in a previous study. All of the 15 AECA-positive sera of Behcet's disease patients had an increased expression of the intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), 93.3% of the sera induced the vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), and 100% of the serum induced the E-selectin molecule on human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HDMEC). After stimulation of HDMEC with AECA-positive sera of Behcet's disease patients, the expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 on HDMEC increased significantly at 4 hours, reaching a peak at 16 hours. Expression of E-selectin was induced at 1 hour after stimulation with a peak at 4 hours and it decreased thereafter. Adherence of T lymphocytes to HDMEC increased significantly after stimulation with AECA-positive sera from Behcet's disease patients. Also, the adherence of T lymphocytes to HDMEC increased at 4 hours and returned to its normal level at 48 hours. These results show that AECA-positive sera of Behcet's disease patients are capable of activating HDMEC to promote the adherence of T lymphocytes to increase the expression of ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and E-selectin on the cell surfaces. The whole process may play an important role in the pathogenesis of vasculitis in Behcet's disease.

A Case of Multiple Trichilemmal Cysts

A case of multiple trichilemmal cysts (TC) is presented. TC is known to be a kind of keratinous cyst with lining cells showing trichilemmal keratiniration. A 63-year-old female patient presented with a 30 year duration of increasing in size and number of twenty five nodular lesions on the scalp. All twenty five TC on the scalp were totally excised and examined microscopically. However, the evidence of proliferation or malignant change like the previous case reports was not found in our case.

A Case of Estrogen Dermatitis

Sensitivity to estrogen has been described previously. The clinical picture is varied with pruritus, either generalized or localued or as urticaria. The hallmark of estrogen dermatitis is the cyclic premenstrual flare. The patient reported here had cyclic erythema multiforme-like lesions and showed a positive intradermal skin test to estrogen. A 20-year-old female patient presented with a periodic 5 year duration of skin lesions on both hands. The eruption commenced in the second half of the menstrual cycle, worsened through the luteal phase but the lesion almost disappeared during menstruation. An intradermal skin test to estrone showed positive results. However, a skin test with medroxyprogesterone acetate was negative. After systemic steroid and antihistamine therapy, the lesions were found to be significantly improved.

Hydroa Vacciniforme:Diagnosis by Repetitive UVA Phototesting

Hydroa vacciniforme is a rare, chronic photosensitivity disorder manifested in childhood by recurrent vesicles that hea1 with srarring. We report a case of hydroa vacciniforme in which vesicles were induced with multiple exposures ta UVA. The clinical features and ap-propriate laboratory evaluation of hydroa vacciniforme are reviewed.

Heat contact urticaria: a case report

Heat contact urticaria is very rare and it is characterized by the development of wheal limited to the areas of heat contact. We report a case of heat contact urticaria in a 65-year-old women. The wheal was induced by hot bathing, washing in hot water or leaning on hot radiators. Symptoms started within 5 minutes of exposure and lasted 30 to 60 minutes. She had no systemic symptoms. The clinical diagnosis of localized heat urticaria was confirmed by experimental induction of localized wheals. Our investigation showed that the threshold temperature needed for induction of the heat urticaria was 39 degrees C. We tried to investigate the plasma levels of prostaglandin D2 and blood histamine before and after heat challenge. The patient showed marked improvement after a combination treatment of desensitizing by repeated exposure to heat and indomethacine.

Differences in the Recovery Rate after Perturbation of Epidermal Barrier by Means of Acetone Treatment and Tape-Stripping Technique

BACKGROUND: The epidermal permeability barrier necessary for terrestrial life resides in the intercellular spaces of the stratum corneum and is composed of lipids. OBJECTIVE: Since strrtum corneum lipid may be important for the permeability barrier, we studied the differences and effects of experimentally altered barrier function using acetone and tape-stripping technique. METHODS: The permeability barrier of hairless mouse was disrupted by tape-stripping and acetone treatment and the recovery rate was assessed by histochemical staining, electron microscopic examination and lipid analysis. RESULTS: Although the transepidermal water loss recovered completely by 48 hours in both of the acute models, acetone treated samples seem to have on over-all better recovery rate than tape-stripped samples. The return of barrier function to normal in both tape-stripped and acetone-treated skin was accompanied by a comparable return of normal nile red and ruthenium tetroxide staining. The amount of lipid in stratum corneum paralleled both the return of barrier function towards normal and the extent of prior damage to the barrier in acetone treated skin, yet, the lipid synthesis in tape-stripped skin showed a slower return of lipid content. CONCLUSION: The difference in the recovery rate of the two acute models may be due to the fact that acetone mainly extracts intercellular lipids, whereas, tape-stripping has a prolonged effect by removal of comeocyte in addition to the intercellular lipids. This shows the importance of comeocytes as well as the intercellular lipid bilayer in the recovery of normal barrier function.

Epidermal Lipid Homeostasis

Stratum corneum lipids, which are enriched in sphingolipids, free fatty acids, and cholesterol, are required for epidermal barrier function. When the epidermal permeability barrier is perturbed, the transepidermal water loss returns to normal by 24-48 hours in parallel with the reappearance of stratum corneum lipids, derived from secreted lamellar bodis and accelerated lipid synthesis. Recent evidence shows that topical application of individual lipids interferes with barrier recovery while complete mixtures of cholesterol, fatty acids, and ceramides facilitate recovery after barrier disrupton. Metabolic imbalances and perturbed barrier function can be either the cause or the consequences of the pathobiology of scaling disease. Many skin diseases relating cornification and dryness are indeed related to abnormality of one or several combinations of lipids. Recently the cytokines which have changed during barrier recovery seem to be important in understanding of epidermal lipid homeostasis as well as barrier recovery.