Is there a true concern regarding the use of hair dye and malignancy development?: a review of the epidemiological evidence relating personal hair dye use to the risk of malignancy.

Many advances in the cosmetic industry have increased our ability to enhance youth and beauty. Hair-coloring products are one such innovation. Over the past several decades, a significant amount of work has been dedicated to understanding the possible long-term side effects associated with hair-dye use, specifically looking at cancer risk. This paper describes the hair-coloring process, highlights the potentially carcinogenic ingredients in various hair-dying products, and reviews the epidemiological evidence relating personal hair-dye use to the risk of developing several types of malignancies.

A Four-question Approach to Determining the Impact of Acne Treatment on Quality of Life.

Facial acne vulgaris can have profound effects on health-related quality of life. In some studies, patients with acne vulgaris reported results similar to those noted with other chronic diseases, such as asthma, arthritis, or diabetes. Clinical objective assessments alone do not adequately capture the impact of acne vulgaris severity from a patient's perspective. Health-related quality-of-life assessment is important in order to fully characterize the overall burden of disease and effectiveness of treatment as the perspectives of the patient are also taken into account. Previous studies of the impact of acne vulgaris treatment on health-related quality of life have been limited in their scope of assessment. Drawbacks of prior studies have included small numbers of patients, health-related quality-of-life parameters that were not adequately evaluated, inclusion of only a limited range of mild-to-moderate acne vulgaris severity, or being unblinded or observational in study design. The Acne Quality of Life is an acne-specific questionnaire developed to assess treatment impact on the health-related quality of life of patients with acne vulgaris. Its psychometric properties and degree of responsiveness are well-established. Improvement in Acne Quality of Life with the fixed combination clindamycin phosphate 1.2%/benzoyl peroxide 2.5% aqueous gel in the largest cohort of acne vulgaris patients where health-related quality of life was studied has been reported recently. Significant improvements in all four domains over 12 weeks were seen with clindamycin phosphate 1.2%/benzoyl peroxide 2.5% aqueous gel compared to patients treated with individual active ingredients or vehicle (p<0.001). Length and time required for completion of the 19-item Acne Quality of Life questionnaire is likely to preclude its use in clinical practice. A condensed, validated Acne Q-4 scale based on the four items most broadly representative of health-related quality of life combined with a high level of correlation to the Acne Quality of Life questionnaire has been suggested as a more realistic approach that may be applied by clinicians when managing patients with acne vulgaris. The authors present data on the effectiveness of clindamycin phosphate 1.2%/benzoyl peroxide 2.5% aqueous gel on health-related quality of life based on this Acne Q-4 scale.

An update on the presence of psychiatric comorbidities in acne patients, Part 2: Depression, anxiety, and suicide.

Acne vulgaris (AV) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects millions of people. Psychologic disorders such as depression, anxiety, and body dysmorphic disorder are common in patients with AV and the reported prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide completion in acne patients also is remarkable. Part 1 of this series provided an overview of the prevalence of psychologic disorders in patients with AV Part 2 reviews depression, anxiety, body dysmorphic disorder, and suicidal ideation and completion seen in AV patients. Treatments available for acne patients with coexisting psychiatric illness also are discussed, along with the relationship between oral isotretinoin and depression and suicide.

An update on the presence of psychiatric comorbidities in acne patients, part 1: overview of prevalence.

Acne vulgaris (AV) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects millions of people. Psychologic disorders such as depression, anxiety, and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) are common in patients with AV This article in a 2-part series provides a review of the rates of general psychologic comorbidity, depression, anxiety, and BDD.

The frequency of self-skin examination and full body skin examination in dermatologists.

PURPOSE: Mortalities due to skin cancer are escalating, but early detection via skin examinations can be beneficial. To date, dermatologists have not been isolated as a high-risk population for developing skin cancer, although some evidence suggests that they are a high-risk group. Therefore, the specific aims of this study were to measure the frequency at which dermatologists perform self-skin examination and receive full-body skin examination. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A sample of 476 respondents provided data for this cross-sectional, nine-item survey, which was e-mailed to all registered members in the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. The initial invitation was sent in the summer of 2007, with reminders sent at four and eight weeks. E-mails contained a unique identifier, and each member could only respond once to the survey sent to that particular e-mail address. RESULTS: 71.7 percent of the respondents reported that they routinely gave themselves a self-skin examination, 25.4 percent reported a monthly exam, 24.5 percent every six months, 17.2 percent once per year, and 4.6 percent every five years. Performing a self-skin examination was not related to age, gender, or history of skin malignancy. Seventy-six percent of all respondents never had a full-body skin examination conducted by another dermatologist, which persisted when analyzed by age (p = 0.0490) and gender (p = 0.0184). CONCLUSION: Dermatologists are more likely to perform self-skin examination rather than visit another dermatologist for a full-body skin examination.

Bleomycin in dermatology: a review of intralesional applications.

Intralesional bleomycin has been favorably used off-label to treat various skin conditions. These include warts, hemangiomas, vascular malformations, telangiectasias, several types of cutaneous malignancies, condyloma acuminata, and the lesions of leishmaniasis cutis. Currently, there is a limited amount of evidence from randomized placebo-controlled trials comparing intralesional bleomycin with other local treatments for these disorders. In this article, we review the pharmacodynamics, mechanism of action, safety profile, and clinical applications of intralesional bleomycin. Dosages, techniques for administration, and efficacy of intralesional bleomycin for each aforementioned clinical entity are also provided. Given its ease and safety in administration, efficacy, and availability, off-label use of intralesional bleomycin can be considered another primary and/or adjunctive therapy for various common cutaneous conditions by practitioners in dermatology today.

Allergic contact dermatitis to pimecrolimus.

Pimecrolimus suppresses the proinflammatory cytokine production of cutaneous T and mast cells (1). It is used to treat atopic dermatitis and is the active ingredient in the topical formulation pimecrolimus 1.0% cream (Elidel, Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland).