Pathophysiology, clinical findings, and management of Fox-Fordyce disease: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Fox-Fordyce (FFD), also known as apocrine military, is an uncommon chronic inflammation of the apocrine sweat glands. It is characterized by pruritic, papular eruptions in apocrine-gland-bearing regions. FFD was described a century ago, but the exact pathogenesis of the disease and the management are not well understood. AIMS: This paper provides a wide understanding of the pathophysiology, clinical findings, and management of Fox-Fordyce disease. Its aim is to help the physician to diagnose and manage this entity accordingly. METHODS: A research was done using PubMed database on 12 April 12, 2020, and in order to retrieve all case reports, case series, cohort studies, randomized, and nonrandomized clinical trials were included describing FFD among patients. RESULTS: A total of 43 articles and 68 patients were included in the study. The majority of patients were young females. The disease was bilateral in 90%, affected the axillae and to a lesser extent the pubic and the periareolar areas and rarely the thoracic area, the abdominal area, and the face. FFD followed a relapsing and remitting course, and an evident improvement in disease course was noted after menopause. CONCLUSION: The typical FFD patient is a post-pubertal female and pre-menopause, presenting with pruritic papules in apocrine-gland-bearing regions. FFD can be sporadic or occurs in family, and it can be asymptomatic in 1/(3-4) of patients and can be triggered by laser hair removal and hormonal changes. Further randomized clinical trials assessing different treatment of FFD are now warranted.

Skin adverse events in recently approved targeted therapies in solid malignancies.

Targeted anticancer therapies are an important weapon in the fight against cancer. Targeted therapies interfere with specific molecules necessary for tumor growth and cancer progression. They are divided mainly to either monoclonal antibodies or small molecules inhibitors. Their primary objective is to target directly and precisely the cancer cells leading to a minimal side-effects profile. The dermatologic adverse reactions of these targeted therapies is different from those seen with classical cytotoxic chemotherapy. Rashes, xerosis, hand-foot-skin reaction and mucositis are the most frequent side effects. In this paper, we aim to present a comprehensive review of the dermatologic side effects of targeted therapies including, specific side effects related to recently, approved targeted therapies.