The authors aimed to apply a nonsurgioal and atraumatic method for avulsing dystrophic nails due to onyohomyoosis by using 22.25% urea ointment under occlusive dressing. One hundred and eighty-nine nails with onychomycosis in fifty-five patients were treated by this rnethod. The results obtained a,re as follows: 1. Of a total of 82 fingernails and 107 toenails in 55 patients, all fingernails and 103 toenails showed an excellent response with easy removal of the diseased nails. 2. The duration tha.t the occluded urea ointment remained in place before sucessful avulsion was 6.7(range, 3 to 18) days for fingernails, and 9.1(range, 3 to 18) days for toenails with onychomycosis. 3. Of 4 nails of control group which were treated with white petrolatum, none showed the significant improvernent. 4. The problems during this treatment were; severe irritation with pain(l case), mild irzitation and/or itching(5 cases), and pin-point bleeding on curettage of nail bed (19 cases). It is suggested the urea treatment has many advantages and seemed to be ideal for patients with digital vascular insufficiency and increased susceptibility to infection.
Curettage ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Nails ; Occlusive Dressings ; Onychomycosis* ; Petrolatum ; Urea*

We present a case of bullous congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma in a two year old female, in whom no hereditary background was found. The skin lesion was characterized clinically by blister formation with generalized erythematous hyperkeratosis which was especially prominent on the flexural surfaces of extremities and intertriginous areas. The histopathologic examination revealed marked hyperkeratosis, cavity changes of the malpighian cells with perinuclear vacuoles and markedly thickened granular layer containing many keratohyaline granules.
Blister ; Extremities ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperkeratosis, Epidermolytic* ; Skin ; Vacuoles

A 61-year-old female had neurofibromas situated on the right side of upper trunk, shoulder and neck in the distribution of dermatomes C3 and C4(right), which developed 3 years ago. There were not cafe-au-lait spots, axillary frecklings, or Lisch nodule (iris pignented hamartoma). Biopsy specimen showed collagenous wavy fibrils among which spindle-shaped and round cells were embedded as seen in the typical neurofibroma. This case was considered to be a segmental form of von Recklinghausen's disease.
Biopsy ; Cafe-au-Lait Spots ; Collagen ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Neurofibroma ; Neurofibromatoses* ; Neurofibromatosis 1 ; Shoulder

A 65-year-old male received captoPnl therapy (25mg three times a day, for the treatment of congestive heart failure. Seven months after starting the captopril therapy he developed flaccid vesiculobullae and erythematous patches with oozing, crusted surfaces on his trunk and the proximal portion of his extremities. The mucous membranes were not involved. The mucous membranes were not involved.) The histopathologic findings showed subcorneal bulla containing a few acantholytic cells and direct immunofluorescent studies revealed intercellular deposition of IgG and C3 throughout entire epidermis, consistent with pemphigus foliaceus. After captopril therapy was discontinued, the skin lesions gradually improved within 1 month. Pemphigus foliaceus; is a rare complication of captopril therapy and this is, to our knowledge, the first case report in Korea.
Aged ; Captopril ; Epidermis ; Extremities ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Korea ; Male ; Mucous Membrane ; Pemphigus* ; Skin

Cutaneous mycobacterial infection can occur with Mycobacterium tube culosis or other mycobacterial agents. The commonest of the group IV rapidly growing mycobacteia Mycobacterium fortuitum, has widespread distribution in natur, and is an uncommon causative agent of human mycobacterial infection. We report herein a case of Mycobacterium fortuitum infection follcwiiig an antibiotics susceptibility test. This 24-year-old man suffered fram ulcerative itchy nodules on the left forearm where the antibiotics susceptibility test was don. The skin biopsy specimen revealedly. iphohistiocytic granulomatous infiltration in the dermis. Culture of the tissue specimen revealed rapicly growing yellowish colonies, which was isolated to Mycobacoterium fortuitum. Among 3 biovariants of M. fortuitum, our case was revealed to he biovariant fortuiiam: Surgical excision was performed followed by the administration of antiliiiitics, and no sign of relapse was noted until now, 1 year since.
Anti-Bacterial Agents* ; Biopsy ; Dermis ; Forearm ; Humans ; Mycobacterium fortuitum* ; Mycobacterium* ; Recurrence ; Skin ; Ulcer ; Young Adult

Involucrin is a recently recognized structural component of mature squamous epithelial cells and is considered as a marker of normal eratinocyte differentiation and ma.turation. In this study peroxidase-antiperoxidase techniques were used to assess involucrin expression in histologic sections of normal skin and a variety of epidennal tumors including squamous cell carcinomas(25 cases), keratoacanthomas(11 cases), basal cell carcinomas(20 cases), trichoepitheliomas(5 cases), Howens diseases(12 cases), arsenic keratoses(10 cases), actinic keratoses(10 cases) and Pagets diseases(2 cases). The results were as follows : l. In normal skin, the upper third of the viable epidermis showed diffuse cytoplasmic staining for involucrin. In hair follicles, the lower area of inner root sheath and inner area of the outer root sheath stained positively. The sebareous glands did not stain, but the ducts of sebaceous glands were positive. 2. Keratoacanthomas showed a relatively homogeneous staining pattern for inirolucrin ', all cells except basal cells stained with mild to moderate intensity. In contrast, squamous cell carcinomas disclosed a highly irregular involucrin staining pattern with marked variation in staining intensity from cell to cell. 3. Basal cell carcinomas were negative for involucrin except squamous horn cysts, and the epidermis overlying basal cell carcinomas showed the field effect, that is, the epidermis overlying the tumors exhibited diffuse, homogeneous positive staining of cells in all layers of the epidermis. 4. ln trichoepitheliomas, the involucrin reactivity was negative as in basal cell carcinoma.s, but the field effect was not observed. 5. In Elowens disease, actinic keratosis, arsenic keratosis and Pagets disease, the positivit.y for involucrin staining extended deeper into the stratum malpighii than was observed wit,h normal epidermis. And areas showing irregular patchy pattern of involucrin staining were considered to have the potentiality of malignant invasive change much more than the negative or homogeneous areas. Paget's cells were negative for involucrin as the adjoining keratinocytes in the lower portion af epidermis.
Actins ; Animals ; Arsenic ; Carcinoma, Basal Cell ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cytoplasm ; Epidermis ; Epithelial Cells ; Hair Follicle ; Horns ; Keratinocytes ; Keratoacanthoma ; Keratosis ; Keratosis, Actinic ; Sebaceous Glands ; Secobarbital ; Skin

Granular cell tumors were originally described in 1926 by Abrikossoff as myoblastic myomas. They usually occur as solitary tumors but can be multiple in about 10% of cases. They have a predilection for the skin, subcutaneous tissue and tongue, but also occur in many other organs. We report a case of solitary granular cell tumor on the palm. This is a very unusual location of this disease which merits consideration.
Granular Cell Tumor* ; Myoblasts ; Myoma ; Skin ; Subcutaneous Tissue ; Tongue

Acrodermatitis continua (AC) of Hallopeau is one of the chronic relapsing pustular eruptions of the extremities. Generalization of AC sometimes occurred spontaneously, or induced by withdrawl of drugs such as corticosteroid, or pregnancy. We report a case of generalized AC in a 50-year-old woman who has been treated intermittently with various medications other than systemic retinoids. The histopathologic findings of the pustules on the fingertips and trunk revealed subcomeal abscesses and/or spongiform pustules. The patient was treated with etretinate in the dose of 50mg/day, and UVB exposure. Two months after treatment, skin lesions were markedly improved.
Abscess ; Acitretin ; Acrodermatitis* ; Etretinate ; Extremities ; Female ; Generalization (Psychology) ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Pregnancy ; Retinoids ; Skin

One patient is a 6-year old female, who has had intensely pruritic linear papuloplaque.", on the left side of the perineal and perianal areas for three years. The other patient, is a. 23-year old male, who has had iritensely pruritic linear papuloplagues on the left upper extremity. This condition started at 1 month of life. In both cases, microscopie examination of the lesions showed psoriasiform and eczematoid appearance. In the latter case, spongioform pustule and Munro's microabscess were also found. We believe that these cases probably represent instances of the entity that. Altman and Mehregan have called inflammatory linear verrueous epidermal nevus, and unusual clinical feature in our patients was the involvement of the left groin in case 1 and of the left upper extremity in case II, which are somewhat rare sites of involvement.
Child ; Female ; Groin ; Humans ; Male ; Nevus ; Nevus, Sebaceous of Jadassohn* ; Upper Extremity ; Young Adult

Zinc sulfate, which was used as zinc sulfate ophthalmic solution in herpetic keratitis, has been found to have the therapeutic effects in cutaneous and mucosal herpes simplex. We studied ta evaluate the therapeutic effect of zinc sulfate in patients with herpes simplex. Nine patients with primary herpes simplex and twenty five patient with recurrent herpes simplex were included in this study. Twenty five patients(six with primary type and nineteen with recurrent type were treated with topical applicatiion of 0.3% zinc sulfate solutiion seven to eight times a day and nine patients(three with primary type and six with recurrent type)were applied with placebo vehicle in the same way. Maintenance treatment was then given tc all these patients, first once a week for one month, and then twice a month indefinitely. The effect was assessed by the comparison of the duration of disappearance of symptoms, drying of vesicles and crust formation, and desiccation and sloughing-off of cursts, and recurrence rate between zine sulfat,e group and placebo group. The resuilts were summarized as follows : 1. In the average time of the disappearance of symptoms, drying of vesicles and crust formation, a,nd desiccation and sloughing-off of crusts, the resu1t observecl in zinc, sulfate group was shorter than that of placebo group, respectively ( p < 0.01). 2. In recurrence rate, 11.1% observed in zinc sulfate group was much lower than 80.0%i in placebo group(p . 0.01). These findings suggest that topical zinc sulfate is an effective agent for treatment and prevention of recurrence af herpes simplex infection.
Desiccation ; Herpes Simplex* ; Humans ; Keratitis, Herpetic ; Recurrence ; Zinc Sulfate* ; Zinc*