Introduction: Vitiligo is an acquired, idiopathic disorder clinically characterized by amelanotic lesions on the skin which cause significant impairment of patients' quality of life. A variety of treatments have been proposed, with inconsistent results. In the last decades, the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is receiving increasing interest as a potential effective technique in the treatment of several dermatological diseases, including vitiligo. Objective: We conducted a review with the aim to identify studies that documented the use of PRP for vitiligo. Materials and Methods: Electronic databases of MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) from inception to November 2019 have been searched using different combinations of the following terms: "platelet-rich plasma", "platelet gel", "platelet-rich fibrin", "PRP" and "vitiligo". Results: We identified 6 clinical studies consistent with our research, with a total of 253 patients, listing and discussing the obtained results. In all reports, all treated patients showed a stable vitiligo, and a significantly higher improvement in the PRP groups was always observed compared to control groups. Regarding the side effects, PRP in vitiligo patients is useful and without important side effects. Conclusion: PRP is a promising treatment for stable vitiligo lesions in different body sites. The possible use of PRP in combination with traditional therapeutic options and the standardization of processing protocols represents a very fertile field for future research. Larger clinical trials with longer time of observation would provide solid evidence regarding the effectiveness of PRP for the treatment of vitiligo.
Curcumin is a compound isolated from turmeric, a plant known for its medicinal use. Recently, there is a growing interest in the medical community in identifying novel, low-cost, safe molecules that may be used in the treatment of inflammatory and neoplastic diseases. An increasing amount of evidence suggests that curcumin may represent an effective agent in the treatment of several skin conditions. We examined the most relevant in vitro and in vivo studies published to date regarding the use of curcumin in inflammatory, neoplastic, and infectious skin diseases, providing information on its bioavailability and safety profile. Moreover, we performed a computational analysis about curcumin’s interaction towards the major enzymatic targets identified in the literature. Our results suggest that curcumin may represent a low-cost, well-tolerated, effective agent in the treatment of skin diseases. However, bypass of limitations of its in vivo use (low oral bioavailability, metabolism) is essential in order to conduct larger clinical trials that could confirm these observations. The possible use of curcumin in combination with traditional drugs and the formulations of novel delivery systems represent a very promising field for future applicative research.
Background: female androgenetic alopecia (FAGA) is a common cause of non-scarring alopecia in women, affecting approximately 40% of women by age 50, bearing a significant psychosocial burden on affected patients. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been widely investigated as a potential effective treatment for several dermatological conditions, including male androgenetic alopecia (MAGA). However, few studies have been conducted focusing on the use of PRP in FAGA. The aim of this review was to identify reports that investigated the use of PRP for the treatment of FAGA. Methods: Electronic databases of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) from inception to September 2020 have been searched using different combinations of the following terms: “androgenetic alopecia,” “FAGA,” “female pattern hair loss,” “platelet-rich fibrin,” “platelet-rich plasma,” and “PRP”. Results and conclusions: Eight (n = 8) clinical studies consistent with our research were identified. A total of 197 subjects has been enrolled in the included studies. All of them were adult female patients (mean age: 38.9) affected by female pattern hair loss. PRP is a well-tolerated procedure which showed promising results in males-only and mixed populations of AGA patients. PRP showed to produce high levels of satisfaction and improvement in the quality of life in patients affected by FAGA. In the light of this evidence, PRP may be proposed in patients who did not respond or did not tolerate topical minoxidil, as well as in combination with topical and oral treatments.
Introduction: We report a case of a young female patient, previously affected by psoriatic arthritis, and treated with adalimumab, who developed a chronic spontaneous urticaria and started a concomitant therapy with omalizumab. Methods & results: A 50% reduction of the Dermatology Life Quality Index (from 7 at baseline to 4 in weeks 12 and 24) and a complete reset of the Urticaria Activity Score for 7 days (from 27 at baseline to 0 in weeks 12 and 24) were recorded. During all treatment with omalizumab, administering of adalimumab was continued. Due to complete control of urticaria symptoms, the patient stopped treatment with omalizumab after 24 weeks. Conclusion: The combination of adalimumab and omalizumab could offer a favorable efficacy and safety profile. The synergistic action of the two biological drugs in reducing systemic inflammation could be responsible for a shorter time to obtain clinical response.
Main subtypes of cutaneous lupus erythematosus are represented by acute, subacute cutaneous, intermittent and chronic cutaneous lupus erythematosus. Discoid lupus erythematosus represents the most common phenotype of chronic cutaneous lupus erythematosus. The spectrum of clinical manifestations mirrors that of several and distinct histopathological features. Such variability among different CLE subtypes is also observed at dermoscopy. Dermoscopy is nowadays considered an additional valuable method for skin lesions assessment in general dermatology, following and completing the well-known clinical diagnostic steps, such as medical history and clinical examination. In vivo reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is a non-invasive imaging tool able to assess the epidermis and upper dermis producing high resolution (horizontal ∼1.25 μm, vertical ∼5 μm), en face tissue sections used for melanocytic and inflammatory evaluation. In this study, we reported dermoscopic and RCM features about 9 patients affected by subacute and chronic lupus erythematosus retrospectively analyzed.
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