BACKGROUND: Acne is a common chronic disease which most frequently affects the face. This visibility is a major cause for concern in affected individuals. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of life of patients with acne. METHODS: We interviewed 130 acne patients, and determined the impact of acne on the quality of life with a questionnare. RESULTS: Among 130 cases of acne, the numbers of male and female patients were 52(40.0%) and 78(60.0%) respectively, and tbe mean age was 21 years. There was no difference between the sexes in the quality of life criteria used. The scores of social criteria of patients older than 20 years were significantly higher than thme of patients younger than 20 years. The severity of facial acne was correlated with the severity of chest acne but not with that of back acne. The severity of chest acne was correlated with that of back acne. The severity of facial acne was correlated with the scores of the physical, social and psychological criteria, and the severity of chest acne was correlated with that of physical and social criteria. However, the severity of back acne was not correlated with those of any of the criteria. The psychological well-being of the patients was moderately or highly affected by the acne more often than the other criteria. CONCLUSION: Acne has a substantial impact on the quality of life. The practical use of these indices are: (1) reveal areas of particulur concern in patients with acne; (2) to identify individuals who may require more intensive treaiment; and (3) to give a patient oriented inforrnation on the quality of life expected.
Acne Vulgaris* ; Chronic Disease ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Quality of Life* ; Thorax

The anti-inflammatory activity of a corticosteroid may mask the contact allergic reaction it is causing. This may be an important reason why contact allergy to corticosteroids has often been missed. A simple persistent aggravation of a dermatitis in a patient treated with one or more topical corticosteroids is sufficient to raise a suspicion of corticosteroid hypersensitivity. A 23-year-old male visited our department for the evaluation of his aggravated pruritic oozing erythematous papules, scales and edema of the face. Previously, he was treated with Dermatop ointment and Plancollotion. A Patch test showed positive reactions to prednicarbate 10%, 1%, hydrocortisone-17-butyrate 10%, and triamcinolone 10%. We conclude prednicarbate in Dermatop ointment, hydrocortisone-17-butyrate in Plancol lotion to be the etiological agents.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Dermatitis ; Dermatitis, Allergic Contact* ; Edema ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Male ; Masks ; Patch Tests ; Triamcinolone ; Weights and Measures ; Young Adult

No abstract available.
Ichthyosiform Erythroderma, Congenital*

Spontaneous fracture of the Silastic shunt catheter is a rare complication of lumboperitoneal shunt. A review of the literature revealed only one case in which spontaneous fracture occurred after this procedure. The authors report a case in which fracture of a lumboperitoneal shunt catheter occurred within the interspinous ligament probably due to repeated tension caused by flexion and extension during lumbar motion. The fractured proximal catheter was located entirely within the intrathecal space exclusively from the level of L1 to S1, and caused incomplete cauda equina syndrome.
Catheters* ; Fractures, Spontaneous* ; Ligaments ; Polyradiculopathy

No abstract available.
Adenoids* ; Carcinoma, Adenoid Cystic*

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with recurrent pneumothorax after wedge resection in primary spontaneous pneumothorax in our hospital. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Two hundred thirty-five consecutive patient (98% males; mean age, 23.9+/-4.5 years) who had undergone video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) were reviewed retrospectively. The two groups were divided as follows: group A, non-recurrent patients (225 patients [96%]); and group B, recurrent group (10 patients [4%]); the risk factors were compared between the two groups. The single and multiple factors that influenced the recurrence rate were analyzed using Cox's proportional hazard model. RESULT: There were no significant differences between the recurrent and non-recurrent groups in terms of gender, smoking, site of recurrence, degree of collapse, operative time, and number or weight of resected bullae. The recurrence rate was significantly more common in the following: younger ages, increased height/weight ratio, longer initial air leakage period, and shorter duration of chest drainage. Early aggressive exercise (<30 days) of patients after wedge resection increased the tendency for recurrence. CONCLUSION: Thoracoscopic wedge resection does not have a higher recurrence rate than open thoracotomy. However, young age, height/weight ratio, continuous air, and duration of chest tube placement were risk factors for a recurrent pneumothorax.
Blister ; Chest Tubes ; Drainage ; Humans ; Operative Time ; Pneumothorax ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; Thoracotomy ; Thorax

Nodular fasciitis represents reactive fibroblastic or myofibroblastic proliferative lesions which may be misdiagnosed as sarcomas due to the rich cellularity, mitotic activity and variant morphologic pattern. It arises in the subcutaneous tissue, skeletal muscles, and fascia. Uncommon clinical and pathological variants of nodular fasciitis, such as intradermal, intravascular, cranial, ossifying, parosteal and proliferative fasciitis, have been described. We present a 23-year-old man with a one year history of a 2x1.5cm sized hard tender nodule on the scalp which is partially depressed at the margin. Histological examination revealed clusters of spindle cells in a myxoid background, chronic inflammatory cells and extravasated red cells in the dermis. Immunohistochemically, the spindle cells showed positivity of vimentin or smooth muscle actin, and negativity of desmin or S-100 protein. The staining results support its myofibroblastic origin. There is no involved bony lesion on the brain computed tomography (CT). Therefore we report a rare case of intradermal fasciitis arising on the scalp.
Male ; Humans

We compared postoperative visual outcome and corneal refractive power depending on preoperative corneal topographic pattern and the predictibility of corneal topographic measurement compared with keratometric measurement after PRK. The subjects were 91 eyes divided into two goups composed of 44 eyes, symmetric bow tie type(SB) and 47 eyes, asymmetric bow tie type (aSB). The visual acuity, central power, and topographic pattern were measured before operation, postoperative 1 week, 1, 2 and 6 month in two groups, but no statistical difference(p>0.05). The averages of uncorrected visual acuity at 6 month were improved to 0.80(SB) and 0.85(aSB) from 0.09(SB) and 0.11(aSB) before operation. Topographic central refractive powers of +42.98D (SB), +43.32D(aSB) before operation were changed to +37.68D(SB), 37.56D(aSB) at 6month. The pattern of the region affected by the excimer laser was classified by key hole type 38%(SB) , 34%(aSB) , uniform roud type 41%(SB), 43%(aSB), semicircular type 21%(SB), 23%(aSB). The proportion of the difference less than one diopter between PRK setting and the change of the corneal refractive power at 6month was 36% and 76% in keratometric and topographic measurement. Above results show that the asymmetricity of bow tie type did not influence the visual outcome. The topographic measurement was better than keratometric measurement in evaluating the corneal refractory change after PRK.
Lasers, Excimer* ; Visual Acuity

OBJECTIVE: There are many causes of cervical myelopathy including trauma, degenerative conditions, tumors and demyelinating disorders. However, myelopathy caused by soft disc herniation might be seen rarely than the spondylosis caused by hard disc. Here, authors retrospectively analyzed the clinical features and results of cervical myelopathy caused by soft disc herniation. METHODS: From March 2010 to December 2010, 134 patients with degenerative cervical spinal disease were treated with anterior cervical discectomy and interbody fusion. Among them, 21 patients with cervical myelopathy secondary to cervical soft disc herniation were analyzed. Their clinical features, preoperative and, postoperative clinical results were evaluated by Nurick Grade and Japanese Orthopaedic Association scale (JOA) retrospectively. Preoperative clinical features including duration of myelopathy, pain intensity and postoperative clinical results including improvement rate of myelopathy and radiculopathy were retrospectively analyzed by Nurick Grade and JOA scale. We also evaluated correlation between the duration of symptom, type of the disc herniation, pain intensity and clinical outcome. RESULTS: Mean age was 49.7 and male was predominant. Gait disturbance with mild to moderate pain was most common symptom in clinical features. Severe pain was shown in only 9 cases, and the other 12 cases experienced mild to moderate pain. Mean duration of myelopathy was 1.18 month. The mean JOA scores were 11.22 before surgery and 14.2 after surgery. The mean Nurick grades were 2.78 before treatment and 1.67 after treatment. Neurologic status of mild or moderate pain group on preoperative state is worse than that of severe pain group. The patients with duration of myelopathy symptom (<1 month) showed lower clinical improvement rate than the patients with myelopathy over 1 month. Patients with median type of disc herniation showed poorer neurological status than those with paramedian type of herniation in preoperative state. CONCLUSION: Authors reviewed the clinical features and surgical outcome of the cervical myelopathy secondary to cervical soft disc herniation. We presumed that patients of more than one month of symptom duration, mild to moderate initial symptom would be related with better postoperative improvement rate.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Demyelinating Diseases ; Diskectomy ; Gait ; Humans ; Male ; Radiculopathy ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Cord Diseases* ; Spinal Diseases ; Spondylosis

212 cases of hypertensive intracerebral hematoma were treated and followed for more than 3 months. The outcome was analysed in point of comparison between conservative treatment and operative treatment. The precipitating factors on prognosis depend on size and site of hematoma, level of mental deterioration, and blood pressure on admisson. Operative treatment showed better outcome than conservative treatment in cases of severly mentally deteriorated patients, large hematoma, and pontine hematoma.
Blood Pressure ; Hematoma* ; Humans ; Precipitating Factors ; Prognosis