Acta Dermatovenerologica Croatica : ADC

Positive parental role modeling is a protective factor for adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Our aim was to investigate parental opinion on adolescents' SRH and vaccination as well as sociodemographic determinants of child-parent communication regarding SRH. This nationally representative cross-sectional telephone survey with a random stratified sample included 500 parents from Croatia (74% mothers), with at least one child under 18 years of age. Stratification was performed by (a) region, and (b) size of settlement...

Skin diseases are easily diagnosable by observation. Authors in ancient times already wrote on these diseases, if only succinctly. In the sixteenth century, Mercuriale, a famous Italian physician who taught in Padua, Bologna, and Pisa, wrote "The morbis cutaneis", the first book on the subject. In it, he presented a classification of skin diseases based on change of color, texture, and elevation. He described the opinion of the classic medical authors about the skin, its diseases, and how to treat those diseases...

Dear Editor, Scurvy is a nutritional disorder which can develop after prolonged (>1-3 months) severe vitamin C deficiency. Vitamin C is a cofactor in several enzyme reactions involved in collagen synthesis. The defect in collagen causes blood vessel fragility, poor wound healing, mucocutaneous bleedings, hair abnormalities, bone pains, and joint contractures due to periosteal and intraarticular bleeding (1,2). Risk factors for scurvy development are undernutrition, low socioeconomic status, older age, male sex, alcoholism, tobacco smoking, and severe psychiatric illnesses (1-3)...

Proper hand hygiene is one of the top preventive measures against the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, we report the cases of four patients who presented with blonde discoloration of hair of the dorsal hands and distal forearms during the COVID-19 pandemic. The mean age of participants was 41.25±4.35 years, and 75% percent of them were men. Three patients were medical staff who had to use antiseptics frequently, and one of them was a housewife. In all participants, the primary color of hand hair was black...

Dear Editor, Mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP) is an autoimmune blistering disease characterized by erosive mucosal lesions mainly on the oral and ocular mucosae (1). We report a case of oral and ocular anti-BP180-type MMP with variable IgG and IgA reactivities and underlying dementia. An 84-year-old Japanese man presented with a 4-year history of erosions in the oral cavity and on the conjunctivae, with progressive vision impairment. The medical history included benign prostatic hyperplasia, cataract, sinusitis, and dementia...

Skin changes in patients with diabetic foot (DF) are relatively common. The most frequent lesions feature papillae or cilia of various forms. The condition known as "verrucous skin lesions on the feet in diabetic neuropathy" (VSLDN) occurs in patients with distal diabetic sensorimotor neuropathy and is commonly located in places of high mechanical pressure. However, there is a scarcity of published data on the diagnosis and treatment of VSLDN. Our paper describes various types of VSLDN skin pathology, summarizes the diagnostic procedure options available, and documents the experience of our diabetic foot clinic in applying short-term VSLDN therapies as part of routine podiatric practice...

The purpose of this study was to assess how skin biopsy results from adults, which occupy an important place in dermatological practice, have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Adult patients aged over 18 presenting to the dermatology clinical of a tertiary hospital between March 12, 2019 and March 11, 2020, and between March 12, 2020 and March 11, 2021, from whom skin biopsies had been taken and who had undergone pathological examination were included in the study. Pre-COVID-19 pandemic data were compared with post-pandemic data...

Teledermatology is a remote method of diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of the patient with visual communication technologies. It has been a research subject for many years, but its reliability has not been fully explained. With the emergence of the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic in 2019, the need for teledermatology increased. This study aimed to evaluate the reliability of teledermatology. Material and Method: A total of 595 lesions of 546 patients who visited the dermatology outpatient clinic were included in the study...

Metabolic reprogramming mediated by hypoxia-inducible factors play a crucial role in many human cancers. HIF-1α is activated under hypoxic conditions and is considered a key regulator of oxygen homoeostasis during tumor proliferation under hypoxia. Aim of this research was to analyze the immunohistochemical expression of HIF-1α, VEGF-A, Glut-1, MCT4, and CAIX in atypical fibroxanthoma (AFX) and pleomorphic dermal sarcoma (PDS). 21 paraffin-embedded AFX and 22 PDS were analysed by immunohistochemistry, namely HIF-1α, VEGF-A (referred to as VEGF throughout the manuscript), Glut-1, MCT4, and CAIX...

Tests which have proven their efficacy and reliability in the follow-up of pemphigus patients are used only on a limited scale or take time to complete due to a lack of technical facilities in several centers. Therefore, more accessible methods are being considered for monitoring disease activity. We aimed to investigate the relationship between platelet function and disease activity based on the change in proinflammatory cytokine profile in pemphigus pathogenesis. The size of platelets correlates positively with their activity...

Aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the severity of psoriasis and obesity based on the analysis of the visceral fat index and serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and resistin. The study included 50 patients with psoriasis and 30 subjects in the control group. The measured parameters were height, weight, waist circumference, visceral fat index, and serum levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and resistin. The severity of the disease was evaluated using the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI)...

The aim of this study was to quantify the effectiveness of intradermal application of autologous fibroblasts on lean tissue structures. The histological sections of the skin were analysed and evaluated for the expansion potential of autologous fibroblasts in the control skin patch area and the nearby pre-treated skin patch into which we had injected expanded autologous fibroblasts nine month earlier. The results show that the pre-injection of fibroblasts into the dermis leads to a long-term rejuvenation of the skin, as evaluated from the histological appearance and from the significantly increased density of fibroblasts in the pre-injected skin vs...

Dear Editor: The European Baseline Series (EBS) of contact allergens is used throughout Europe as a screening test to diagnose contact allergy as a proxy for allergy contact dermatitis and other hypersensitivity skin diseases (1). Parabens are alkyl esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid with antimicrobial effects used as preservatives in cosmetics, foods, and drugs that have been included in the so called "baseline series" (2) for more than 40 years. Parabens, which are considered allergologically safe biocides and are classified as safe by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) in Europe (2-4), are frequently present in cosmetics (5)...

Dear Editor, A 45-year-old man presented with a large, dark, keratotic, warty, and friable plaque on the distal posterior aspect of the left leg (Figure 1, a). The patient reported that the lesion was not present at birth but had appeared approximately at the age of three as an erythematous patch that progressively grew over the time. During adolescence, the surface of the lesion became rough and warty and was easily traumatized due to its location, resulting in recurrent bleeding episodes over a period of years...

Dear Editor, Nevoid acanthosis nigricans (AN) is a rare form of benign AN that can be mostly found as a solitary lesion distributed along Blaschko's lines (1). It is not associated with any known syndrome, endocrinopathy, drugs, or internal malignancy. Treatments include retinoid, calcipotriol, and laser treatments (2). Herein we report a case of nevoid AN successfully treated with topical ketoconazole plus urea. A 15-year-old woman presented with a 3-year history of asymptomatic plaques on her abdomen that were increasing in size...

A male infant was born by spontaneous delivery on February 7, 2020, with a gestational age of 40 weeks and a birth weight of 4.1 kg. After birth, the infant presented with appearance of skin loss on the bilateral lower limbs, feet, left wrist, face, and lips. Large areas of skin defects, erosion, and exudation were noted on the extensor side of the bilateral lower limbs and feet, and some skin loss with a small amount of exudation was observed on the left wrist, face, and lips, which was accompanied by dorsal hyperextension of the right foot and oral mucosal ulceration (Figure 1)...

Acute hemorrhagic edema of infancy (AHEI) is a cutaneous leukocytoclastic small vessel vasculitis of unknown incidence. It affects mostly infants aged 4 to 24 months. The distinctive features of AHEI include a generally healthy-appearing child with low-grade or absent fever and rarely painful targetoid purpuric edematous lesions. The disease usually resolves spontaneously within 3 weeks without late sequelae. The main differential diagnosis of AHEI is Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP). Initially, purpura fulminans should also be ruled out...

Desmoplastic neurotropic melanoma (DNM) is a rare melanoma subtype that shows tropism for the nerves, perineural invasion correlates to higher rate of local recurrence, poorer prognosis and worse morbidity. Given the paucity of typical melanoma features, both clinical and pathological, this confusing skin cancer may act as a pretender, thus leading clinician to misdiagnosis and subsequent inappropriate conservative treatment. Sarcomatoid-like cells rearrangement and absence of pigmentation can lead towards sarcoma diagnosis, so specific skills are required to pathologist to properly recognize this melanoma subtype...

The term "maskne" has been coined during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, designating acne associated with prolonged protective mask-wearing. Maskne is a variant of acne mechanica caused by mask-induced mechanical injury (pressure, friction, and rubbing) and occlusion. The additional factors influencing the onset of maskne include genetics, environmental factors, duration of mask-wearing, the type of mask, and previous facial skin disease. The prevalence of maskne is increasing since masks are the most commonly used personal protective equipment in the general population...

A new coronavirus emerged in 2019 in Wuhan, China named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome type 2 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Later, this virus spread worldwide, causing a disease called coronavirus disease (COVID-19). To control the outbreak, many countries announced mandatory quarantine; thus, people changed their lifestyles and started engaging in most activities from home. This review explains how some dermatological pathologies may be precipitated by prolonged stays at home, considering that quarantine was a widely used public health measure during 2020...