No abstract available.
Humans* ; Sebum*

Omphalith generally consists of keratinous materials and sebum. It gradually forms a stone-like hard, dark brown to a black mass in elderly persons with deep umbilical depression and not clean umbilicus. A 75 years old male noticed a brownish black nodule on the umbilical depression 2 weeks ago. He did not try to remove it. This nodule gradually became to project from umbilical depression accompanied with intermittent pain. Removed specimen was brownish black stonelike on projecting polypoid lesion, but in umbilical depression, yellowish brown and not so hard. Histopathological examination showed a small quantity of melanin granules, but no nuclear components of cells.
Aged ; Depression ; Humans ; Male ; Melanins ; Sebum ; Umbilicus

BACKGROUND: Glycolic acid and Jessner's solution have been popular agents for superficial chemical peeling to treat facial acne. Increased sebum secretion is one of the major etiological factors of acne. There has been no report to compare effects on sebum secretion in patients with facial acne between glycolic acid peeling and Jessner's solution peeling. OBJECTIVE: We compared the effects on sebum secretion in patients with facial acne after glycolic acid peeling or Jessner's solution peeling. METHODS: Twenty patients with facial acne vulgaris were studied. Eight patients were treated with 30% glycolic acid peeling and twelve patients with Jessner's solution peeling. Before and 2 weeks after the treatment, the sebum levels of forehead, nose, center of chin and both cheeks were measured by using Sebumeter(R). RESULTS: The sebum levels were not significantly changed after 30% glycolic acid peeling. After Jessner's solution peeling, the total average, and average of T-zone of sebum levels, were reduced significantly (p<0.05). The high-sebum-level area was defined as the area where the sebum level before treatment was high. The average of sebum levels of the high-sebum-level area was reduced significantly (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: 30% glycolic acid peeling did not affect sebum secretion, but Jessner's solution peeling reduced sebum secretion in patients with facial acne significantly, especially on the areas where sebum secretion was high.
Acne Vulgaris* ; Cheek ; Chin ; Forehead ; Humans ; Nose ; Sebum*

BACKGROUND: An increasing number of methods have been developed to determine skin properties in an objective way. Variable atmospheric conditions or climatic changes influence the physiological reaction process occurring in skin. Clinical studies investigating skin conditions are often performed through different seasonal environments. Therefore, physiological stabilization course in a standard environment is necessary to exclude climatic influence before measuring skin physiological parameters. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate stabilization course of several skin physiological parameters after exposure to summer and winter conditions. METHODS: Fifteen healthy volunteers (9 males, 6 females) with normal skin, of age 20 to 35 (mean 25.3) years were included in the study. After 30 minutes exposure to summer or winter climatic conditions, the volunteers stayed in the standard environment for 30 minutes. Skin surface temperature, skin color, transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and sebum were measured every 10 minutes in the standard room. RESULTS: Skin surface temperature stabilized after 20 minutes on forehead and 30 minutes on cheek irrespective of the season. Skin color (L*, a*, b*) stabilized after 20 minutes in standard environment irrespective of the season and location of measurement. TEWL stabilized after 10 minutes and sebum stabilized after 20 minutes in standard environment irrespective of the season and location of measurement. CONCLUSION: To obtain stabilized values of skin surface temperature, skin color, TEWL and sebum irrespective of season and measurement location, 30 minutes of stabilization course is needed.
Cheek ; Forehead ; Humans ; Male ; Seasons ; Sebum ; Skin ; Skin Temperature

BACKGROUND: In the last few decades, there has been a substantial increase in the population of aged people. Aging skin is a common concern for many people these days. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of cosmetics containing Ascidian tunic in reducing wrinkles. METHODS: Cream containing the Ascidian tunic was applied to right lateral epicanthal areas of 30 subjects for 8 weeks. As control group, a placebo which does not contain the Ascidian tunic was applied to the left lateral epicanthal areas of the subjects. Skin barrier function was evaluated and skin replicas were molded on both epicanthal areas every 4 weeks. The changes of the skin wrinkles were analyzed with skin visiometer. RESULTS: In comparison of the changes between groups treated with placebo and Ascidian tunic, there was statistically significant differences in hydration and sebum secretion. But there were no statistically significant differences in the result of R-value by visiometer. CONCLUSION: The treatment of Ascidian tunic extract seems to be partially effective in improving wrinkles, but further study is required.
Aged ; Aging ; Cosmetics ; Fungi ; Humans ; Sebum ; Skin ; Urochordata

BACKGROUND: Although sebum secretion is crucial for acne development, acne lesion distribution is not always similar to the topographic differences of sebum secretion. OBJECTIVE: To analyze whether sebum secretion affects acne development and distribution and to assess other factors possibly influencing the relationship between acne and sebum secretion. METHODS: This single-center retrospective study included 67 acne patients and 50 controls. Acne patients were divided into 3 groups based on acne lesion distribution: T-zone dominant, U-zone dominant, and mixed groups. The secreted sebum level in each zone of acne patients was compared with that of controls. We also conducted correlation analysis between secreted sebum level and acne number, depending on the facial zone. RESULTS: No significant difference was found between acne patients and controls regarding age and sex ratio. The U-zone dominant group showed increased sebum levels compared with controls in the U-zone and whole face, but a similar result was not obtained in the T-zone dominant group. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between the number of lesions and secreted sebum level in the U-zone, but not in the T-zone. Further, there was a more significant relation in the U-zone of male and young patients. CONCLUSION: We found that increased sebum secretion compared with the condition may affect acne development, especially in the U-zone. Sex and age may also influence the relationship between acne and increased sebum secretion. Acne lesion distribution may vary from patient to patient because sebum secretion affects acne differently depending on multiple factors.
Acne Vulgaris ; Humans ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Sebum ; Sex Ratio

Acne vulgaris is an inflammatory disease of hair follicle sebaceous gland units,with an incidence of up to 85% in adolescents.The pathogenesis is closely related to androgen,sebum secretion,lipophilic microbial infection,and immune-inflammatory reaction.This article reviews the signaling pathways related to acne from the aspects of inflammatory signaling pathways and sebum secretion pathways.
Acne Vulgaris ; Adolescent ; Humans ; Sebaceous Glands ; Sebum ; Signal Transduction

BACKGROUND: Acne vulgaris is one of the most prevalent and emotionally debilitating dermatologic diseases. Emerging problems with conventional acne treatments, such as the resistance of Propionibacterium acnes to antibiotics and the safety of oral isotretinoin, create a demand for other treatment modalities for acne. An evolving understanding of the Propionibacterium acnes-produced porphyrins and the development of a number of light sources have led to the application of photodynamic therapy for the treatment of acne. OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of light therapy on the treatment of Acne Vulgaris using acne mode intense pulsed light (IPL), and photodynamic therapy with a combination of topical 5-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA, 20%) and acne mode IPL. A comparison of the two treatment modalities would then be made to examine the effect on inflammatory acne lesions and sebum excretion. METHODS: Thirteen patients with varying degrees of acne were included in the study after a 4 week washout period. ALA (20%) was applied to half of the face on each patient. After one hour, the whole face was exposed to intense pulsed light (DECA(R), Italia) using an acne mode (400~1,200 nm) starting at a fluence of 11 J/cm(2). The procedure was carried out three times with 2 week intervals, and the patients were evaluated on post-op 2nd, 4th, and 6th weeks. Histologic changes were observed before and after treatment. RESULTS: After the first and second treatment, there was a statistically significant reduction in inflammatory acne lesion counts and the amount of sebum production from baseline, in both the ALA-PDT group and the IPL group (p<0.05). However, no statistically significant reduction was shown after the third treatment in both groups. There was a slightly higher reduction in the count of inflammatory lesions and the amount of sebum production in the ALA-PDT site compared to the IPL site, but it was not statistically significant. On histologic examination, dermal inflammatory cell infiltrations around the perivascular and periappendageal area were significantly reduced and sebaceous glands became smaller after the 3rd treatment. The adverse effects were negligible. CONCLUSION: ALA-PDT using acne mode IPL, and light therapy using acne mode IPL alone were effective in the reduction of inflamed lesions and sebum secretion in patients with mild to moderate acne vulgaris. Furthermore, no significant adverse effects were observed with both treatments. However, no remarkable contrast of therapeutic effect was statistically observed between the two therapies either.
Acne Vulgaris* ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Humans ; Isotretinoin ; Photochemotherapy* ; Phototherapy* ; Porphyrins ; Propionibacterium ; Propionibacterium acnes ; Sebaceous Glands ; Sebum

We herein report a case a demodicidosis, which is extremely rare in early childhood, in a 19 month old boy. He had been admitted to the department of plastic surgery for 20 days because of burn on both legs. During admission, he hadn't had his face washed at all. He was referred to our department due to progressively appearing, multiple, pinhead sized, dry scaling, erythematous papules on the face of 13 days duration. KOH mounts from the scaly papules revealed numerous hair follicule mites. We treated him with topical application of 25% benzoy1 peroxide gel to see complete clearing of the lesions in 32 days. We think that prolonged ret.ention of sebum in the unwashed skin, such as in our case, may predispose to the poliferation of the hair follicule mites.
Burns ; Hair ; Humans ; Infant ; Leg ; Male ; Mites ; Sebum ; Skin ; Surgery, Plastic

PURPOSE: This study was performed to identify skin health status and the factors influencing skin hydration in the institutionalized elderly. METHODS: The subjects were 139 elders living in 2 nursing homes in Seoul. Data for skin health status were collected by measurement of skin hydration, sebum, trans-epidermal water loss and pH using Corneometer, Sebumeter, Tewameter and Skin pH-meter on face, flank, arm and leg. Baseline data were collected by a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed by SPSS/WIN 12.0 program. RESULTS: Skin hydration and pH were relatively low especially on arms and legs but sebum and TEWL were not low, relatively. There were significant differences in skin health status according to gender, smoking, alcohol intake, and bath cleanser. There was significant positive correlation between skin-hydration and bath-time, TEWL and bath-frequency. Smoking, bath-cleanser, bath-time. pH and gender were identified as the significant influencing factors of skin hydration. CONCLUSION: Smoking, bath-time and pH need to be considered as important control factors for increasing skin health status in the institutionalized elderly.
Aged ; Arm ; Baths ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Leg ; Nursing Homes ; Sebum ; Skin ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Surveys and Questionnaires