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Summary: Apremilast has been approved as an effective and safe treatment for psoriasis, but clinical trial results may differ from real‐life data. This retrospective cross‐sectional study evaluated the long‐term efficacy and safety of apremilast in a Greek cohort of adult patients with psoriasis who had received at least one dose of apremilast between March 2016 and January 2021. The primary endpoint was the percentage of patients who achieved 75% reduction in Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI75) at Week 16. Absolute PASI, PASI90 (90% reduction) and adverse events were also recorded at various timepoints. In total, 102 patients (29.4% women, 70.6% men) with a mean ± SD age 55.94 ± 15.21 years were included. PASI75 and PASI90 were achieved by 20.8% and 1.98% of patients, respectively, at Week 16. According to our results, PASI90 achievement was significantly lower than that reported in clinical trials. The efficacy of apremilast increased gradually until Week 24, with further improvement noted in good responders up to Week 52. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Topical methyl aminolevulinate photodynamic therapy (MAL‐PDT) with 3 h incubation is recommended as a field directed treatment. Skin pretreatment with ablative CO2 fractional laser (AFXL) prior to MAL‐PDT enhances drug penetration and could minimize incubation time. Objectives: To evaluate and compare the safety and the preventive effect in the development of new non‐melanocytic skin cancers (NMSCs) of AFXL‐assisted MAL‐PDT with 1‐h incubation with that of conventional MAL‐PDT in patients with clinical and histological signs of field cancerization. Methods: Forty‐two patients with two mirror cancerized areas of face or scalp were randomized to field treatment with 1‐h incubation AFXL‐assisted PDT or conventional PDT (CPDT). All patients underwent two treatment sessions 1 week apart. Irradiation was performed using a red light‐emitting diode lamp at 37 J/cm2. Patients were followed up at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months for the evaluation of development of new NMSCs lesions. Results: All patients completed the study. There was no statistically significant difference with respect to the total number of new actinic keratoses at any point of follow‐up as well as to the mean time of occurrence of new lesions between treatment fields. Both treatment regimens were safe and well tolerated. Conclusion: Ablative CO2 fractional laser pretreatment may be considered as an option for reducing photosensitizer occlusion time while providing the same preventative efficacy as CPDT in patients with field‐cancerized skin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-dermatophyte fungi caused mainly onychomycosis or were considered secondary pathogens of the nails and foot that were already diseased. In our study, I T. rubrum i was the leading pathogen for onychomycosis among our patients, whereas I M. canis i , I T. violaceum i and I Trichophyton tonsurans i presented as the prevailing dermatophytes involved in tinea capitis, especially in children. Candida species were the second most frequent pathogens for onychomycoses, mainly in the fingernails of women. [Extracted from the article]

Dear Editor COVID-19 pandemic raised questions both in dermatologists and in patients about the use of immunosuppressive medications. The objective of our study was to evaluate the adherence of psoriatic patients in traditional systemic treatment as well as biologics and identify possible influencing factors of drug interruption during COVID-19 pandemic. However, patients with more than three comorbidities were over six times more likely not to adhere to their treatment ( I P i = 0.03; O.R. 6.29, 1.23-2.27 95% C.I.). [Extracted from the article]

The article offers information on the Secukinumab survival and long-term efficacy in patients with plaque psoriasis. Topics discussed include information on the efficacy of anti-IL17A antibody approved for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis; discussions on the study on the survival time of Secukinumab in real life comparing to clinical trials; and the information on the influence of drugs on the survival of the patient.

The article offers information on real-life efficacy and safety of secukinumab antibody within a cohort of patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. It mentions Secukinumab prevents interleukin 17A (IL-17A) from binding to its receptor and limit inflammatory processes ultimately leading to excessive keratinocyte proliferation; clinical trial of Forty-two patients ; and secukinumab proved more efficacious than phase-III clinical-trial and other real-life data.