Short anagen syndrome.

Short anagen syndrome (SAS) is a recently described disease, but is rarely reported in the literature probably because of its under-recognized status. It is characterized by the inability to grow long hair because of an idiopathic short anagen phase. The condition is not associated with hair shaft fragility or hair unruliness. The patients complain of abnormally short scalp hair and report that they never had a haircut. The condition is benign and most of the reported cases had no associated systemic diseases or skin disorders. Hair length tends to improve spontaneously after puberty. The main differential diagnoses include loose anagen hair syndrome (LAS).

A double-blind, randomized, vehicle-controlled clinical study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of MAS063DP (ATOPICLAIR) in the management of atopic dermatitis in paediatric patients.

A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, vehicle-controlled clinical study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of MAS063DP in 60 paediatric patients affected by atopic dermatitis (AD), aged between 2 and 17 years. Using the Investigator's Global Assessment (IGA) score for AD, patients with a score of 2 (mild) or 3 (moderate) were enrolled in the study. Patients were randomly selected to receive MAS063DP (20 patients), MAS060 (20 patients, a similar formulation with lower key ingredients' concentration and no preservatives) or vehicle (20 patients).The study consisted in a treatment period of 43 days, with clinical evaluations at baseline (day 1), days 8, 15, 22, 29 and 43, at which time the treatment was stopped. MAS063DP showed nearly 80% improvement in IGA score at day 22, compared with 16.6% and 26.3% with the MAS060 and vehicle respectively. A statistically significant difference was found by comparing MAS063DP with MAS060 (p < 0.0001); a similar result was evidenced comparing MAS063DP and vehicle (p = 0.001). By contrast, no significant difference was found between MAS060 and vehicle. A statistically significant difference was sustained until the end of the study. MAS063DP may therefore be considered as one of the available regimens effective in the treatment of mild-to-moderate AD in children and adolescents.

Diffuse acute pustular eruption after streptococcal infection--a new instance of pustulosis acuta generalisata.

We report a 6-year-old boy with a diffuse acute pustular eruption which appeared after an erysipela. On the basis of the history and clinical features we made a diagnosis of pustulosis acuta generalisata. An 8-day antibiotic course with amoxicillin and clavulanic acid was instituted. After 1 week the erysipela and the pustular eruption had healed and no relapse of the rash occurred in the following month.

Acute irritant contact dermatitis due to Juglans regia.

Juglone is the active ingredient of the green flesh of walnuts and is known to be a strong irritant. We report the first two paediatric cases of contact pigmentation and acute irritant contact dermatitis due to the juice of green walnut husks in two young nursery-school playmates.