Warty dyskeratoma (WD) is a rare epidermal tumor that frequently arises as a papule or nodule on the head or neck of middle-aged or older persons. Histologically, it shows a cup-shaped keratin-filled invagination of an acanthotic epidermis, suprabasilar clefting with villi projecting into the clefts and acantholytic dyskeratotic cells are also present. The changes almost always involve a single hair follicle. We describe a distinctive case of WD that showed involvement of two adjoining follicles within a solitary lesion.
Epidermis ; Hair Follicle ; Head ; Humans ; Neck

Pemphigus vulgaris is an autoimmune blistering disease that commonly involves the scalp. Lesions of pemphigus vulgaris that persist on the scalp for a long period may be accompanied by tufted hair folliculitis. Only two previous accounts of tufted hair folliculitis developing in a lesion of pemphigus vulgaris have been reported. We report a 51-year-old-man with erosions and clusters of hair on the scalp. The scalp lesion had persisted for about 20 years. A histopathological examination of the skin lesion on the scalp revealed separation of the epidermis and clusters of several adjacent hair follicles. The patient was diagnosed with persistent pemphigus vulgaris of the scalp showing features of tufted hair folliculitis.
Blister ; Epidermis ; Folliculitis ; Hair ; Hair Follicle ; Humans ; Pemphigus ; Scalp ; Skin

We report two cases of recurrent extramarnmary Pagets disease after wide local excision. Both cases involved the scrotum and the penoserotal junction, respectively. On histopathological examination, we could observed many Paget cells confined to the epidermis and the hair follicle, but not invading the underlying dermis in both cases. There was no evidence of internal malignancy. Both cases were treated with wide local reexcision.
Dermis ; Epidermis ; Hair Follicle ; Paget Disease, Extramammary* ; Scrotum

No abstract available.
Epidermis* ; Psoriasis

Soft tissue expansion technique has been a very useful method for the reconstruction of scalp defects and alopecia since the scalp is an unyielding tissue allowing minimal distension in traditional local flap surgery. As a result, there has been wide use of the tissue expansion method in the reconstruction of scalp defect and treatment of alopecia in the plastic surgery. There have been many concerns about histomorphologic changes of the overlying skin and the underlying structure resulting from tissue expansion. We also know that progressive tissue expansion induces increased mitotic activity of the epidermis and thining of the dermis in the overlying skin, as well as significant gross, histologic bony erosion in the underlying structure. However, little informations have been reported about the changes of the hair and pilocebaceus units in scalp expansion. We compared the horizontal sections of the expanded scalp and its longterm histologic changes with a normal unexpanded scalp specimen as a control. The terminal hair proportions to the vellus hair both increased. There was a 32% decrease in follicular units, a 24% decrease in terminal hair, and a 23% decrease in total hairs 8 week after scalp expansion compared to the normal unexpanded scalp. The perifollicular inflammatory changes and fibrosis observed in the full expanded scalp specimen disappeared within 12 weeks after removal of the expander and the flap transposition. In our observation, tissue expansion at the hair-bearing scalp did not precipitate any adverse changes on the hair follicles. On the contrary, we observed that secondary scalp expasion could be safetly performed 3 months after the first scalp expansion.
Alopecia ; Dermis ; Epidermis ; Fibrosis ; Hair Follicle* ; Hair* ; Humans* ; Scalp* ; Skin ; Surgery, Plastic ; Tissue Expansion*

Authors attempted to examine the development of keratinocyte in the human fetal epiderrnis in term of the appearance of principal product of differentiation, the keratins. Immunohistochemical study (ABC method) using anti-prekeratin antibodies and anti-keratin antibodies was carried out on sampled skin from 9 human fetuses ranging in estirnated gestational age from 12 weeks to 27 weeks. As early as 12 weeks of embryonic life, the epidermis contained cytokeratin. At this stage of development, the embryonic epidermis consists of three-cell layer .' basal layer, intermediate layer, and periderm, all of them staining for prekeratin and keratin. A thick cornified layer developed at 24 weeks but was not stained for prekeratin and keratin. Hair germ of 12 week-fetus was recognized as bulges of basal cells that were stained for prekeratin and keratin. At 18 weeks of estimated gestational age, development has advanced to the bulbous hair peg stage at which point the primordia of nearly all the final structural components of follicles were established. In the final structureal cornponents of the follicles, outer root sheath and sebaceous gland were stained for prekeratin and keratin, whereas cortical and cuticular elements and inner root sheath were negative. There was no difference between immunostaining results for prekeratin and keratin except for the staining intensity. The appearance of these proteins early in development suggests their potential value in utero in the recognition of keratinization disorders.
Antibodies ; Epidermis* ; Fetus* ; Gestational Age ; Hair Follicle* ; Hair* ; Humans* ; Keratinocytes ; Keratins ; Sebaceous Glands ; Skin

BACKGROUND: Desmocollins (Dsc) are calcium-dependent transmembrane glycoproteins of desmosomes that are important in the junction complex of epidermis and maintain structural integrity of the skin from external stressors. Among three Dscs (Dsc 1, 2, 3), Dsc 1 and 3 are distributed on skin. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to observe the Dsc 1 distribution pattern on the skin and oral mucosa during fetal development. METHODS: Skin was obtained from the sole and scalp of 33 fetuses, ranging from 10 to 37 weeks of gestational age. Immunohistochemical staining was performed on the paraffin-embedded tissue using a Dsc 1 monoclonal antibody. RESULTS: Dsc 1 was expressed in the suprabasal layer but not in the basal layer of the epidermis of the sole at the 10th week of gestation. Thereafter, Dsc 1 expression further increased in the suprabasal layer with initiation of stratification and increased gradually in the granular layers of the sole and scalp epidermis. Dsc 1 was strongly expressed in the superficial layer of the infundibulum and inner root sheath of the hair follicle but was not expressed in the sebaceous cells or other hair components. The eccrine duct epithelium was focally and weakly positive for Dsc 1 expression. Furthermore, Dsc 1 was not expressed in oral mucosa, although the oro-cutaneous portion was strongly expressed in the superficial layer. CONCLUSION: Dsc 1 was strongly expressed in the suprabasal cells of the epidermis during fetal skin development, and expression increased gradually in the granular layer and inner root sheath of the hair follicle. However, Dsc 1 was not expressed in basal cells or in oral mucosa. Dsc 1 may play a role in the maintenance of epithelial integrity as part of desmosomes.
Desmocollins ; Desmosomes ; Epidermis ; Epithelium ; Fetus ; Gestational Age ; Glycoproteins ; Hair ; Hair Follicle ; Mouth Mucosa ; Pregnancy ; Scalp ; Skin

BACKGROUND: Data on the clinicopathologic features of hair follicle tumors in Korea are limited. OBJECTIVE: The purpose was to investigate the clinical and histopathologic characteristics of hair follicle tumors in Korea. METHODS: Two hundred sixty four cases of hair follicle tumors seen from 1999 to 2001 in Korea were analyzed clinically and histopathologically. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The most common hair follicle tumor in Korea was pilomatricoma(81.0%), followed by trichoepithelioma(6.4%), dilated pore of Winer(3.8%), and proliferating trichilemmal tumor(2.2%). Hair follicle tumors usually occurred as a solitary skin-colored nodule. The most commonly involved site was the face, and the peak age of presentation was 10 to 19. Pilomatricoma usually occurred as a solitary skin-colored nodule. The most commonly involved site was the arm, and more than 50% of tumors occurred before the age of 20. Histopathologically, the tumor was often surrounded by fibrous capsule and was composed of basophilic and shadow cells. It was usually located in the dermis and extended into the subcutis. Retraction spaces between tumor nests and stroma were frequently observed. Trichoepithelioma usually occurred as multiple skin-colored papules on the face. Histopathologically, the tumor was usually located in the dermis with sometimes connected to the epidermis. It frequently showed peripheral palisading. Dilated pore of Winer usually occurred as a solitary brownish to pigmented papule on the face in middle-aged persons. Proliferating trichilemmal tumor occurred as a solitary or multiple tumors. Histopathologically, the tumor was usually surrounded by incomplete fibrous capsule. Tumor cells frequently showed clear cell formation, nuclear atypia, mitosis, peripheral palisading, trichilemmal keratinization, and individual keratinization.
Arm ; Basophils ; Dermis ; Epidermis ; Hair Follicle* ; Hair* ; Humans ; Korea ; Mitosis ; Pilomatrixoma

Hypertrichosis is an overgrowth of hair not localized to the anclro en dependent areas of the skin. It may be congenital or acquired, localized or generalized localized hypertrichosis may occur in some types of pigrnentary nevi, chronic inflammation or irration, topical application of androgen or steroid, & localized myxedema. We report herein three i:ases of unilateral localized hypertrichosis with or without a brownish hyperpigmented patch developing on the face of a male adol scent. There are no known cau:,es of localized hyper trichosis. Histopath logically, it is characterized by increased melaniii pigment in the basal layer of the epidermis & enlarged hair follicles containing coarser liair. Electron microscopic findings show normal size & number of melanosomes in both mela nocytes & keratinocytes. Our cases differ frorn BecLers nevus in both clinical & histopatholcgic characteristics.
Epidermis ; Hair ; Hair Follicle ; Humans ; Hypertrichosis* ; Inflammation ; Keratinocytes ; Logic ; Male ; Melanosomes ; Myxedema ; Nevus ; Skin

A 26-year-old Korean woman had a 5 month history of pruritic, keratotic papules on the scalp, trunk, and pubic area, which were accompanied by diffuse hair loss from the scalp, eyebrows and pubic area. She also had flat-topped violaceous papules on the scalp and pubic area, and white lace-like striae on the oral mucous and hard palate. Histopathologic study of the progressive stages of the disease revealed dilated follicles filled with horny material, hyperkeratosis, hypergranulosis and hydropic degeneration of the basal cell layer. Throughout the entire subepidermal region, there was an intense bandlike infiltration of mononuclear cells, which were most prominent at the lower pole of the hair follicles. The late stage of the disorder showed atrophy of the epidermis and atrophy of the hair follicles with fibrotic tracts, and mild mononuclear infiltrate at the sites of the former hair follicles. This is the first recorded case, to the best of cur knowledge, in Korea.
Adult ; Atrophy ; Epidermis ; Eyebrows ; Female ; Hair ; Hair Follicle ; Humans ; Korea ; Lichens* ; Palate, Hard ; Scalp