1,597 research outputs found
Evaluation of hair loss
No full textThe evaluation of a patient with hair problems is a fundamental step for the correct diagnosis of disease, as it gives important information and helps in choosing the diagnostic tools that should be utilized to confirm the clinical suspicion. The evaluation includes a clinical history and patient examination and is followed by invasive and noninvasive tests. Often, the sole clinical examination permits the correct diagnosis of the hair disease and the evaluation of its severity and progression. For this reason, time should be spent to get all of the necessary anamnestic data and to carefully examine the patient. Dermoscopy (trichoscopy) will afterward add additional data that can be further increased by scalp biopsy for histopathology and/or by other more specific tests. When approaching a patient with hair problems, it is mandatory to consider the strong psychological impact of hair diseases, which are very often associated with severe emotional distress. For this reason, patients should be managed with care by spending time listening to their complaints and by explaining in detail their disease and its possible treatments. The patient will only be able to properly adhere to treatment and to obtain the best result if she/he understands her/his hair problem and its possible solutions
A new era for alopecia areata: New treatments and improved knowledge of the condition
No full textNo abstract availabl
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Color Atlas of Nails
No full textThe correct diagnosis of nail disorders is a prerequisite for selection of the most appropriate treatment. This book is designed to provide dermatologists with the tools required to diagnose nail disorders on the basis of clinical signs
Drug-induced nail disorders. Incidence, management and prognosis
No full textA large number of drugs of different classes, ranging from antibacterials to chemotherapeutic agents to psoralens, can be responsible for the development of nail changes. Drug-induced nail changes usually involve several or all 20 nails and appear in temporal correlation with drug intake. Some nail changes are asymptomatic and only cause cosmetic problems, while others cause pain and discomfort and impair manual activities or deambulation. Drug-induced nail abnormalities are usually transitory and disappear with drug withdrawal, but sometimes persist in time. The pathogenesis of the nail changes is usually a toxic effect of the drug on the different nail constituents, but other mechanisms can be involved. Drugs that are well known to produce trail abnormalities include cancer chemotherapeutic agents, psoralens, retinoids, tetracyclines, antimalarials and zidovudine. Arsenic poisoning is also always associated with nail changes that have medico-legal importance. Some drugs taken during pregnancy may impair nail development of the fetus, and nail hypoplasia or other nail dystrophies will be evident in the newborn
Treatment of common nail disorders
No full textTreatment of nail diseases is not always easy, because topical treatment is often ineffective as the nail plate is not penetrated by topical drugs and the nail matrix is located under the proximal nail fold. The most frequent nail disorders are nail psoriasis and onychomycosis. In these cases systemic treatment is often necessary to cure the nail changes. Systemic treatment with steroids is mandatory for patients with nail lichen planus, because the disease may cause definitive destruction of the nail matrix. Environmental nail abnormalities are very frequent and include nail brittleness, onycholysis, and chronic paronychia. Preventive measures should always be associated with treatment in these cases
Drug reactions affecting the nail unit: diagnosis and management.
No full textSeveral drugs may be responsible for the development of nail abnormalities, but only a few classes are consistently associated with nail symptoms. Drug-induced nail abnormalities result from toxicity to the matrix, the nail bed, the periungual tissues, or the digit blood vessels. Pharmacologic agents that most frequently produce nail abnormalities include retinoids, indinavir, and cancer chemotherapeutic agents
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