Background:Acne vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory disease of the pilosebaceous units, which chiefly involves face and upper part of the trunk. Its prevalence is highest in adolescence, where the individual counters several psychosocial changes. Depression, suicidal thoughts, and low self esteem are reported in the patients with this disease.Aim:The goal of this study is to compare prevalence of anxiety and depression in the patients with acne vulgaris and normal population.Materials and Methods:In this cross-sectional study, 82 patients with acne vulgaris and 82 persons without acne who referred to a dermatology clinic and a specialized office for skin diseases in Rasht were studied. Anxiety and depression were evaluated by Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire and severity of acne was evaluated by Global Acne Grading System (GAGS). Data were analyzed by SPSS ver. 14.0 software, independent T-test, multi variate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and chi-square test for comparison the quantitative and ordinal data, respectively; with α=0.05.Results:Prevalence of anxiety and mean of anxiety scores were 68.3% and 9.17 ± 3.52, respectively, in patients group and 39.1% and 7.10 ± 3.07, respectively, in control group in which there was a significant difference (P = 0.001). Prevalence of depression and mean of depression scores were 25.6% and 5.34 ± 3.29, respectively, in patients group and 28.1% and 5.01 ± 3.32, respectively, in control group in which there was no significant difference.Conclusion:According to high prevalence of anxiety in patients with acne vulgaris, assessment of the screening mental status of the patients by simple questionnaire such as HADS is suggested.

Background. Geriatric health care has become a worldwide concern, but a few statistical studies were carried out about skin diseases in this age group. In this study, we set out to determine the frequency as well as the age and gender distribution of dermatological diseases in geriatric patients. Materials and Methods. In a cross-sectional study, all patients over 60 years who were accepted to department of dermatology in north of Iran participated in this study. Baseline information and clinical examination were done by a group of dermatologists. Biopsy, Pathological and laboratory methods were used in order to confirm the diagnosis. Results. 440 patients were accepted to the department that 232 patients were male (52.7%). Benign neoplasm was as the common skin disease among patients (65%), followed by erythemo-squamous (35.3%) and precancerous lesions (26.1%). The most common precancerous lesion was actinic keratosis (24.3%). BCC by 8.8% was the most prevalent skin carcinoma. Pruritus was the common problem in other dermatological disease (22%). Conclusion. Skin disorders especially precancerous lesion are among those important health problems in elderly patients in this geographic area. Increasing general awareness about risk factors of these diseases and doing more researches in other regions are highly recommended.

Permethrin (5%) cream was found to be significantly more effective in the treatment of scabies in comparison with lindane in this study, and it seems that it could be an alternative treatment.

Background:Burns are common event and associated with a high incidence of death, disability, and high costs. Centella asiatica (L.) is a medicinal herb, commonly growing in humid areas in several tropical countries that improve wound healing. On the basis of previous studies, we compared the efficacy of Centiderm versus silver sulfadiazine (SSD) in partial thickness burning patients.Methods:Study population comprised burn victims referred to Velayat Burning Hospital at Rasht, Iran. The intervention group received Centiderm and control group SSD cream. Burn wounds were treated once daily at home. All of the wounds were evaluated till complete healing occurred and at the admission, days 3, 7, 14 objective signs; visual acuity score (VAS) and subjective signs were recorded. Re-epithelialization time and complete healing days were recorded. We used random fixed block for randomization. The randomization sequence was created using the computer. Patients and burning specialist physician were blinded.Results:Seventy-five patients randomized into 2 groups; (40 patients: Centiderm group; 35 patients: SSD group). The mean age of them was 30.67 ± 9.91 years and 19 of them were male (31.7%). Thirty patients in Centiderm and 30 patients in SSD group were analyzed. All of objective and subjective signs and mean of re-epithelialization and complete healing were significantly better in Centiderm group rather than SSD group (P < 0.05). There was no infection in Centiderm group.Conclusions:We showed that use of Centiderm ointment not only improved the objective and subjective signs in less than 3 days, but also the re-epithelialization and complete healing rather than SSD without any infection in the subjects.