Erythermalgia Involving the Face Alone: Two Case Reports.

Erythermalgia is a rare cutaneous disease characterized by episodic attacks of burning pain, erythema, and increased temperature. It primarily involves the extremities, with possible extensions to the ears, face, neck, and scrotum; in rare instances, it may afflict the ears, face, or the scrotum alone. Although various medications alone or in different combinations have been tried with significant variations in response, no recommended therapeutics have been established until very recently. This report presents two case histories of a 20-year-old and a 46-year-old woman, respectively, who displayed intermittent facial erythema associated with warmth and pain during the episodes and who presented normal between episodes. Both had good response to combinative treatments of systemic medication and topical lidocaine compounds. The younger was disease-free after more than 4 years of follow-up, and the older had recurrence after stopping the treatment. Conclusion: Erythermalgia may involve the face alone, and combinative approaches may be of choice for its treatment. Topical lidocaine compounds are considered to be a good option for palliative treatment.

Intradermal Growing Hair: Two Case Reports.

Hair growing inside the skin and burrowing in the uppermost dermis, previously termed as "ingrowing hair," is a rarely reported cutaneous disorder. Up to July 31, 2018, only five cases have been reported, all were male. The authors report two Chinese Han men, 26-year-old and 31-year-old respectively, presenting with progressive extending black lines inside the skin on the right mandibular angle and the neck respectively. The black lines were finally demonstrated as growing beard hairs. The 26-year-old man was cured after the hair was pulled out, whereas the 31-year-old patient had re-occurrence after the initial hair was extracted and was cured finally by destroying the individual beard follicle. The authors would prefer the term of "intradermal growing hair" to "ingrowing hair" when describing the condition of hair growing inside the skin and extending in the uppermost dermis. Pulling out the growing hair, and sometimes destroying the beard follicle, may be of choice for its treatment.

Cutaneous pili migrans: a case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Cutaneous pili migrans is a rare condition in which the hair shaft penetrates the superficial layer of the skin and produces a creeping eruption mimicking the lesion of cutaneous larva migrans. METHODS: We report a 28-year-old Chinese man who presented with a painful and slow-moving black, linear eruption on the left sole after walking on a waterlogged street wearing slippers without socks. RESULTS: The lesion started at the anterior part of the foot near the external border, extending linearly along Langer's line towards the lateral side. It then turned in a U-shaped direction and moved across the foot to the other side, where it made a right angle and moved along the internal side of the foot. The lesion was reminiscent of cutaneous larva migrans. Walking made the line move more quickly. Physical examination showed that there was a broken epidermis at the probable entrance and a black thin line at the advancing end of the lesion. The black line was demonstrated to be a hair shaft with a sharp head by a shallow incision of the skin and examination under a microscope. After removal of the hair, the pain disappeared and the lesion diminished immediately, leaving slight pigmentation. CONCLUSION: The broken epidermis may be one of the main reasons for the hair shaft entering the skin. The force of body motion caused movement, which was made easier by the sharp head of the hair shaft. Hair can produce an eruption reminiscent of cutaneous larva migrans.