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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Enlarged skin pore is a type of serious cosmetic defect for many women. However, the mechanisms underlying the skin pores remain unclear. Currently, several treatment methods are in practice for enlarged skin pores and the most common among those are topical alpha-hydroxy acid, retinoid and chemical peel. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the patients' knowledge, awareness and method of the treatment of the skin pores. METHODS: Analysis of the interview results and questionnaire responses from 256 individuals, who did not having any history of medical disease. RESULTS: The number of patients who think that they have enlarged skin pores was 225 (88%). The most common site was around the nose (48%). Enlarged skin pores are thought to be caused by several factors; seborrhea (38%), after removal of sebum (35%) and acne (30%), and common dissatisfactions with enlarged skin pores were visible blackheads and older looks. Patients receive skin care for enlarged skin pores via various remedies, but only 11% actually received dermatologic procedure. CONCLUSION: High proportion of the population has great concerns regarding their enlarged skin pores, but lack proper treatment. Enlarged skin pores lead to one's dissatisfaction, such as blackheads and older look. Thus, we should investigate the insight on skin pores and offer beneficial treatments for concerned patients.
Acne Vulgaris ; Cosmetics ; Dermatitis, Seborrheic ; Female ; Humans ; Nose ; Sebum ; Skin ; Skin Care ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Acne is principally a disorder of adolescence. However, a number of observational studies have documented a significant degree of acne in adult women. One study found a difference in women between late-onset acne and acne that persisted from adolescence. There were significant higher sebum excretion rates among women whose acne originated during the teenage years compared with late-onset acne groups. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the clinical features of patients with acne and to compare the sebum excretion rates and the density of P acnes in adult acne with that in adolescent acne. METHODS: Thirty nine patients with acne vulgaris were clinically evaluated. Sebum secretion rates were evaluated by Sebutape method. The density of P acnes counted by scrub method. RESULTS: 1. The severity grades were mild to moderate in adult acne groups, consisting with the lower acne lesion counts than that of adolescent acne groups. 2. Sebum secretion rates by Sebutape(R) method showed different patterns in two groups. The mean value in the adult acne groups was lower than that in adolescent acne groups, but not statistically significant. Chin area dominant pattern, shown in adult acne groups, were not apparent in adolescent acne groups. 3. The density of P acnes was a lower mean value in the adult acne groups, but not statistically significant. Only in adolescent acne groups, the severity grades are well correlated to the density of P acnes. CONCLUSION: Adult acne was mild to moderate in severity. Clinically, adult acne differs from adolescent acne in that the lesions are located most commonly around the chin. Sebum excretion rate was the highest in the chin area of patients with adult acne. But there was no significant difference in two groups. Also the density of P acnes was not significantly different in two groups.
Acne Vulgaris* ; Adolescent* ; Adult* ; Chin ; Female ; Humans ; Propionibacterium acnes* ; Propionibacterium* ; Sebum*

BACKGROUND: Topical and systemic drugs have been successfully used in the treatment of acne. However, many people are concerned about the side effects of these medicines, especially the childbearing women. Recent reports demonstrated that sequential treatment with laser- and light-based devices lead to a clinical improvement in acne. Recently, we witnessed experienced a case of improvement of inflammatory acne lesions during the treatment of acne scars using a 1,550-nm non-ablative fractional erbium-glass laser. OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to investigate the efficacy and safety of 1,550-nm non-ablative fractional erbium-glass laser in the treatment of facial inflammatory acne vulgaris. METHODS: 11 patients with facial inflammatory acne vulgaris were recruited. These patients received three treatment sessions at a 3-week interval. Inflammatory lesions were counted before and after treatment. The sebum production was quantified using the Sebumeter(R). We graded the patients' self-assessment and the investigator's global assessment using a five-point scale used by the dermatologist. We also investigated the histological changes after the treatment sessions, and the adverse effects during the study. RESULTS: Treatment with 1,550-nm non-ablative fractional erbium-glass laser was well tolerated, resulting in the reduction of inflammatory lesions by 61% (p<0.05). However, the reduction in sebum production from the baseline was not statistically significant. Histopathologic examination of the inflammatory lesions showed a marked decrease in the dermal inflammatory cell infiltration around the perivascular and periappendageal area and the sebaceous glands became smaller after laser treatments. Side-effects were minimal, and were resolved within a few days. CONCLUSION: 1,550-nm non-ablative fractional erbium-glass laser was safe and effective for the treatment of facial inflammatory acne lesions.
Acne Vulgaris ; Cicatrix ; Female ; Humans ; Sebaceous Glands ; Sebum ; Self-Assessment ; Wit and Humor as Topic