The effects of acne vulgaris on quality of life and changes in quality of life after treatment are not only explainable by objective severity of acne. Patients' and clinicians' judgements about acne severity are different.

In the last years, granulocyte and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factors (G-CSF and GM-CSF) are being increasingly used and several cutaneous eruptions have been reported in relation to these treatments. In 1991 Horn et al. described three patients with maculopapular eruption that paralleled the time of infusion of GM-CSF. Two of the cases showed an increase in the number and size of macrophages in the biopsy specimen. Since then, several cases have been reported showing this histopathological alteration that has been considered characteristic of reaction to G-CSF or GM-CSF. Although maculopapular eruption with enlarged macrophages can appear after chemotherapy treatment, we have found that the presentation of this eruption after the beginning of cytokine treatment is suggestive of the involvement of G-CSF and GM-CSF in the eruption. We described eight cases of patients treated with G-CSF or GM-CSF that developed maculopapular eruptions with enlarged macrophages.

3 Ibbsotson. Topical 5-aminolaevulinic acid photodynamic therapy the treatment of skin conditions other than non-melanoma skin cancer. Br J Dermatol 2002; 146 : 178 -188. 4 Cekaite L, Peng Q, Reiner A et al . Mapping of oxidative stress responses of human cells following photodynamic therapy using hexaminolevulinate. BMC Genomics 2007; 13 : 273. 5 Orestein A, Haik J, Tamir J et al . Photodynamic therapy of cutaneous T cell lymphoma using 5-aminolaevulinic acid topical application. Dermatol Surg 2000; 26 : 765 -770. 6 Brazzeli V, Antonineti M, Palazzini S, Barbagallo T, De Silvestri A, Borroni G. Critical evaluation of the variants influencing the clinical response of vitiligo: study of 60 cases treated with ultraviolet B narrow-band phototherapy.

The recall phenomenon is an inflammatory reaction limited to a previously X-irradiated field when the patient is treated months or years later with certain drugs. Only a few cases have been reported in dermatological journals. We report a patient with lymphoma who was treated with low-dose abdominal irradiation and high-dose irradiation to the knees and who, 2 months later, when chemotherapy was started, developed a pronounced inflammatory reaction limited to the areas treated with high-dose irradiation. A skin biopsy specimen showed features of radiation damage, marked epidermal changes and extensive eccrine squamous syringometaplasia. This case of the recall phenomenon is of interest because we have found that there is apparently a radiation dose threshold for this event, and because this is the first report of its association with eccrine squamous syringometaplasia.

Stage IV cutaneous aGVHD is a severe and unusual complication after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Prognosis is poor with a very high mortality rate, although the cause of death is varied and not strictly linked to the cutaneous disease.

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is the main complication of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation and the skin is the most commonly involved organ. The clinical presentation is varied and may resemble autoimmune diseases, such as scleroderma, lichen planus or lichen sclerosus. Chronic GVHD presenting with a butterfly malar rash mimicking lupus erythematosus is uncommon. We report a series of five patients with cutaneous lichenoid GVHD that presented with a butterfly malar rash. Two of our patients had positive antinuclear antibody titres. The evolution was poor with development of sclerodermatous GVHD lesions in three patients and relapse of their haematological disease in two.

Acral erythema is a well-known side-effect of chemotherapy treatment but it is not common in patients undergoing bone marrow transplant. We report a post-transplant patient with clinical and histological acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) who concurrently developed acral erythema presenting as painful, well-defined and self-limiting palmar erythema with pustules. A skin biopsy from the palm showed abnormal keratinocyte maturation and eccrine squamous syringometaplasia. This case illustrates the difficulties in establishing the differential diagnosis of cutaneous eruptions in patients undergoing bone marrow transplant.

Keratosis punctata of the palmar creases (KPPC) is a variant of keratosis punctata of palms and soles in which lesions are confined to palmar creases. We present a patient with KPPC and study the prevalence of the disease in Caucasians. The survey included 1,001 white patients, that were examined for palmar lesions. We could not find any case that fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for KPPC. We conclude that KPPC is a rare disease among Caucasians but rather common in the black race.