Introduction. Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease. It occurs almost all over the world. More cases of psoriasis are seen among Caucasians than in other races. It occurs rarely, or not at all, in Aboriginal Australians or Native Americans. Objective. To analyze the prevalence of psoriasis in Polish voivodships in the years 2008-2015 considering gender, age, place of residence (urban-rural) and clinical form of the disease. Material and methods. The research was based on demographic data collected from the Central Statistical Office (GUS) in the years 2008-2015 for voivodships. The data concern all patients with psoriasis who were consulted during the study period or were hospitalized in institutions providing dermatological services under the National Health Fund (NFZ) contract. The patients were divided into several groups according to gender, age and place of residence. All groups were compared quantitatively and the results were presented in figures. Results. Based on the collected data, as many as 1,147,279 patients with psoriasis benefited from dermatological services in the years 2008-2015. People aged 41-60 years mostly suffered from psoriasis, with a slight predominance of women living in cities. There was also a noticeable increase in psoriasis patients treated in hospital conditions during the study period. Conclusions. The collected data provided a preliminary estimate of prevalence of psoriasis in the years 2008-2015 at about 2.99%. However, the data presented in this paper need further research. streszczenie Wprowadzenie. Łuszczyca jest przewlekłą, genetycznie uwarunkowaną chorobą zapalną skóry. Występuje niemal na całym świecie. Więcej przypadków stwierdza się wśród przedstawicieli rasy kaukaskiej niż rasy czarnej i żółtej. Wśród Aborygenów australijskich i Indian Ameryki Północnej choroba jest nieznana lub występuje bardzo rzadko.

Introduction: To date, there has been no consensus either on the method, frequency or total duration of follow-up for patients that have developed a basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Aim: To evaluate usefulness of high-frequency ultrasound in monitoring patients with BCC, particularly to detect residual disease or early recurrence. Material and methods: Seventy-eight patients with suspicious lesions of BCC were enrolled in this study. Only patients for whom histologic evaluation confirmed diagnosis of BCC (70) continued the study. The dermatoscopic and ultrasonographic observation started before the treatment. Three control examinations were performed 4, 12 and 24 weeks after the treatment. Results: A total of 70 basal cell carcinomas were examined in this study. The presence of cancer formation was observed in the margins of removed nodular BCC in 15% (6/40), in another 25% of cases the margin of surgical removal was narrow and was < 0.2 cm (10/40). For 4 of 6 (66%) lesions, in which histopathological examination demonstrated a positive margin, hypo or heteroechogenic, irregularly shaped focal lesions were found in the ultrasonographic examination just under the entrance echo on the first follow-up visit. In 2 other cases of positive margins of the removed BCC, no signs of residual disease were observed in ultrasonographic examination. For patients with a narrow margin of healthy tissues after surgical removal, hypo or heteroechogenic foci located directly under the entrance echo were also observed in the ultrasonographic examination 4 weeks after the surgery, suggesting the presence of cancer formation. Reduction in the suspected area and scar formation were observed on the subsequent visits. It was found that the characteristic feature of residual disease presence is an enlargement of the hypoechogenic area in subsequent ultrasonographic examinations. Conclusions: The use of high-frequency ultrasonography in the monitoring of patients after surgery can accelerate and improve the diagnosis of residual disease.

Darier-White disease is one of the most common genodermatoses. The most typical clinical symptoms such as diffuse hyperkeratotic papulae usually appear during puberty or early adulthood in seborrhoeic area. It is connected with substantial deterioration of the quality of life due to aesthetic defect. Although there exist many therapeutic options, the disease still causes considerable therapeutic difficulties. Treatment with fractional CO2 laser seems to be a promising therapeutic method. In this paper, we present two cases of patients with Darier's disease who have been treated with a fractional CO2 laser with very good clinical outcome.

Insects of the genus Lipoptena, e.g., Lipoptena cervi and Lipoptena fortisetosa, are hematophagic ectoparasites mainly attacking deer, roe deer, moose, horses, and cattle. Humans may also be incidental hosts for these insects. The species are vectors of numerous pathogens, including Bartonella schoenbuchensis, Borrelia burgdorferi, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Due to the short time of feeding on humans, usually painless bites, and an initially small trace at the site of the bite, the symptoms reported by the patient may not be associated with deer ked infestation and infection with pathogens transmitted by these arthropods. The aim of the study was to describe the consequences of L. cervi bites in humans with detailed documentation of the development of skin lesions. The knowledge about skin lesions arising after deer ked bites may be useful in clinical practice for monitoring patients for the presence of pathogens transmitted by the parasites.

Nanomaterials (NM) arouse interest in various fields of science and industry due to their composition-tunable properties and the ease of modification. They appear currently as components of many consumer products such as sunscreen, dressings, sports clothes, surface-cleaning agents, computer devices, paints, as well as pharmaceutical and cosmetics formulations. The use of NPs in products for topical applications improves the permeation/penetration of the bioactive compounds into deeper layers of the skin, providing a depot effect with sustained drug release and specific cellular and subcellular targeting. Nanocarriers provide advances in dermatology and systemic treatments. Examples are a non-invasive method of vaccination, advanced diagnostic techniques, and transdermal drug delivery. The mechanism of action of NPs, efficiency of skin penetration, and potential threat to human health are still open and not fully explained. This review gives a brief outline of the latest nanotechnology achievements in products used in topical applications to prevent and treat skin diseases. We highlighted aspects such as the penetration of NPs through the skin (influence of physical–chemical properties of NPs, the experimental models for skin penetration, methods applied to improve the penetration of NPs through the skin, and methods applied to investigate the skin penetration by NPs). The review summarizes various therapies using NPs to diagnose and treat skin diseases (melanoma, acne, alopecia, vitiligo, psoriasis) and anti-aging and UV-protectant nano-cosmetics.