ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Chronic hand eczema (CHE) is a major burden for patients. Maintenance treatment involves prevention measures limiting detrimental behaviour and aggravating factors. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of a standardised care program including therapeutic patient education (TPE) on hand care behaviours, clinical severity, quality of life, and work productivity. METHODS: A single-centre study was conducted prospectively. Together with the prescription of a topical steroid, patients participated in individual TPE sessions. Evaluations were performed initially and repeated three months after the therapeutic intervention. They included a structured analysis of hand care behaviours, the assessment of the mTLSS (modified Total Lesion Symptom Score), DLQI (Dermatology Life Quality Index), and WPAI (Work Productivity and Activity Impairment). RESULTS: Seventy-one patients were included (30 men, 42.3%). Three months after completion of the standardised care program, hand care behaviours such as hand washing and rinsing, hand drying, wearing protective gloves, using moisturizing creams, and following specific treatments and recommendations for CHE improved significantly in the 58 patients who completed the study and were associated with a significant improvement in the mTLSS, DLQI, and WPAI scores. CONCLUSIONS: TPE helps patients change their hand care behaviours and adopt skin protection measures, and may improve CHE severity, quality of life, and work productivity.
Subject(s)
Adrenal Cortex Hormones/therapeutic use , Anti-Inflammatory Agents/therapeutic use , Eczema/therapy , Hand Dermatoses/therapy , Hand Hygiene/methods , Health Behavior , Patient Education as Topic/methods , Administration, Cutaneous , Adult , Chronic Disease , Combined Modality Therapy , Eczema/diagnosis , Eczema/psychology , Efficiency , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Hand Dermatoses/diagnosis , Hand Dermatoses/psychology , Health Status Indicators , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Prospective Studies , Quality of Life , Severity of Illness Index , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
Blue nevus is an acquired benign melanocytic nevus that can undergo malignant transformation. We report a 70-year-old man who presented with a recently enlarged long-term blue nodule on his scalp. He reported onset of new satellitosis around the lesion. Although clinically thought to be a malignant melanoma, histopathological, dermoscopic and reflectance confocal-microscopy examinations did not confirm this diagnosis.
ABSTRACT
The skin carcinomas are the most common skin cancers and adult cancers. Risk factors for skin cancer are known. Surgery is the treatment of choice for skin carcinomas. There are several alternative therapies for the treatment of skin cancer and precancerous lesions: radiotherapy, cryosurgery, curettage, electrocautery, photodynamic therapy, topical imiquimod, and topical 5-fluorouracil. The management of skin cancer and precancerous lesions has been the subject of recommendations for good practice in diagnosis and therapy.
