Background: Cupping therapy is an ancient traditional and complementary medicine used in the treatment of a broad range of medical conditions. It is very popular in many countries, especially in China, Korea, and Japan. It is used in the Muslim world, as well as in North Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Cupping involves applying a heated cup to generate a partial vacuum that mobilizes the blood flow and promotes effective healing. Till now, there is no certain scientific base for using cupping in treating any medical problem especially skin diseases. Many skin diseases have tendency to appear at the site of injury or damage to the skin, the so called koebners phenomena. Our observation is that hijama induces skin diseases at the site of cupping in patients with skin diseases with koebner phenomenon. Objective: to present cases with koebner phenomenon after cupping with primary lesions seen at the site of cupping. Patients and method: a total of 24 male patients previously diagnosed with skin diseases; 16 with psoriasis, 6 with lichen planus, one patient with dermatitis herpetiformis, and one with seborrheic dermatitis. Results: All patients had stable skin diseases prior to cupping but new lesions appeared at the site of cupping around two weeks after the procedure. Conclusion: cupping should not be encouraged for skin diseases with positive koebner phenomenon commonly psoriasis and lichen planus and possibly contraindicated as till now there is no scientific basis for using this procedure.

Background: Hyperpigmented (lichenoid) form is a rare subtype of mycosis fungoides which presents with multiple pigmented macules and patches and characterized by a CD8+ phenotype on immunohistochemistry. Up to our knowledge, only limited cases of hyperpigmented MF have been reported so far. Objective: To study the clinical, histopathological, and immunohistochemical features of hyperpigmented lichenoid MF. Patients and methods: Patients with lichenoid MF who had attended department of dermatology, college of medicine, university of Baghdad, Baghdad teaching hospital during the period from 2006 through 2019, were collected. Results: Twelve patients, comprising around 11% of the patients seen with MF, had hyperpigmented lichenoid patches and plaques. Six patients presented with hyperpigmented patches as the only manifestation of MF. Five patients were presented with poikilodermatous patches in addition to areas of hyperpigmented lesions, and (poikilodermatous patches with ulceration in one patient). One patient had classic MF lesions in association with hyperpigmented MF. On histopathological study, atypical lymphocytes were noticed in the epidermis, with minimal spongiosis, and also at the dermoepidermal junction, causing focal damage. The striking feature was the large numbers of melanophages in the dermis. Conclusion: Hyperpigmented lesions of MF may be the sole manifestation or may coexist with other MF variants. The striking histopathological finding was mainly dermal melanosis. Other hyperpigmented dermatoses like lifa disease might be confused with pigmented MF. Early diagnosis and proper therapy might prevent the progression leading to full recovery.

No abstract

Research Article AJODRR (2020) 3:17 Trichotillomania is chronic obsessive compulsive disease with a diagnostic hair loss patterns Background: Trichotillomania (TTM) is a common cause of childhood alopecia. It's a traumatic alopecia and is defined as the irresistible urge to pull out the hair, accompanied by a sense of relief after the hair has been plucked. The condition maybe episodic and the chronic type is difficult to treat. There seem to be an increase in the prevalence of the condition probably due to the changing life style into a more stressful one. Objective: To do full evaluation of this disease and description of hair loss patterns. Patients and methods: In this descriptive study, we collected patients with trichotillomania who had attended department of dermatology, college of medicine, university of Baghdad, Baghdad teaching hospital during the period from 2011 through 2019 where114 cases of TTM were seen. The diagnosis was established on clinical basis after exclusion of other dermatological diseases and medical problems.Full history was taken from each patient including demographic data, presence of stressful life event as a triggering factor. Psycholgical assessment was carried out for each patient by experienced dermatologist as psychiatric referral was refused by all patients and their families.Full description of patterns of hair loss was carried out after exclusion of other causes of hair loss especially alopecia areata. Results: A total of 114 patients diagnosed with TTM were enrolled in this study,88 (77.19%) patients were females and 26 (22.8%) males with female to male ratio: 3.38:1. Age of patients ranged from 6-65 years with a median age of 16 years with the commonest age range between 10-19 years in 64(56.14%) patients.While the duration of the condition ranged from 3 months to 4 years.