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This is an outbreak of dermatitis due to Paederus fuscipes. Awareness of the condition and its clinical features will prevent misdiagnosis and the simple preventive measures suggested are based on the behavioral pattern of this nocturnal beetle.

We have used surface microscopy to measure the pil-sebaceous duct orifices at different sites in 150 subjects. Our data have shown that there are more pilo-sebaceous units on the face compared to the back and that these exists are smaller on the face. Despite the small exit the sebum excretion rate per gland on the forehead was not significantly different from that on the back. Thus the number of pilo-sebaceous duct units and the pilo-sebaceous canal exit size are possible factors in the localization of acne.

Sebum excretion rate was measured before and after occlusions of the skin in eleven subjects. The sebum excretion rate rose significantly following occlusion, confirming the view that there is an obstruction to the outflow of sebum with keratin hydration.

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