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Benign, multifocal, and transient (spontaneously disappearing within one month) stromal invasions of atypical basal keratinocytes were found in light and electron microscopic examination of maculopapular eruptions which developed after receiving an 8 day cycle of doxorubicin, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and cyclophosphamide (Cy) in a 63-year-old woman. She had had a modified radical mastectomy to remove a carcinoma of her right breast.

Vitiligo considerably influences the psychological well-being of patients. Disease-induced disfigurement can cause patients to experience a high level of stigmatization, which can lead to psychosocial stresses and negative impacts on quality of life (QOL). This study aims to ascertain the QOL of vitiligo patients compared to patients with other mild skin disorders. We also attempt to study which clinical features of vitiligo are closely related to the patient's QOL. One hundred and thirty-three vitiligo patients and 112 patients with mild skin disorders were analyzed. All participants were asked to fill out questionnaires covering comprehensive clinical profiles and the Korean version of Skindex-29. Statistical correlation between Skindex-29 and each clinical profile were analyzed. The symptom scale of Skindex-29 was significantly lower in vitiligo patients than in controls, but the function scale and the emotion scale were significantly higher in the vitiligo group than in controls. However, the difference in function scales between groups was significant in female patients, but not in male patients. Several clinical profiles, such as duration of disease, severity scores and previous history of treatments, showed close correlations with the function scale. Family history of vitiligo, Koebner phenomenon, patients' perspectives on disease prognosis, and discordance of the severity scores between physicians and patients also influenced the Skindex-29 subscales differently. In conclusion, the present study suggests that patients with vitiligo were highly affected in the functional and emotional aspects of QOL, with some sex differences. Various clinical features may play an important role in the QOL of vitiligo patients.

We report a case of a 28-year-old woman with myasthenia gravis who developed linear scleroderma seven years later. Myasthenia gravis and scleroderma are rarely found in direct association with each other; there are only five such reported cases, all of which were systemic scleroderma patients. Although localized and systemic scleroderma are distinct entities, autoimmunity is believed to be involved in the pathogenesis of both. Myasthenia gravis and scleroderma may occur coincidentally, but an autoimmune predisposition seems to be the more likely underlying cause, as evidenced by an increased incidence of autoantibodies and autoimmune diseases.

Lupus erythematosus panniculitis (LEP) is an unusual clinical variant of lupus erythematosus (LE) in which the cutaneous inflammatory reaction occurs primarily in the deeper corium. The common clinical features of LEP includes asymptomatic, firm, sharply defined nodules. The histologic findings are characterized by nonspecific panniculitis composed of lymphoid cells, plasma cells, and histiocytes with varying degrees of necrobiotic changes with fibrinoid deposits. In our case, a 24-year-old male patient visited our clinic with non-tender, hard, plaquelike lesions and overlying erythema on the left zygomatic, nasal, and submandibular area. Histopathologic and direct immunofluorescent findings of the lesion were compatible with LEP. His skin lesions waxed and waned with systemic steroid or hydroxychloroquine therapy. He has responded well to a combination therapy of hydroxychloroquine and quinacrine.

Acquired Blaschko dermatitis is a rare disease with acquired unilateral relapsing inflammatory linear lesions along Blaschko's lines. Histopathology reveals spongiotic dermatitis. "Blaschkite de l'adulte" and "acquired relapsing self-healing Blaschko dermatitis" have been suggested as names for this condition. Our patient was a 27-year-old man with a 6 month history of repeated, unilateral, slightly pruritic, discrete and grouped erythematous papules and papulovesicles on the left side of the upper limbs and trunk along Blaschko's lines. Histologic examination showed subacute spongiotic dermatitis. The condition showed excellent improvement after treatment with systemic corticosteroid for 2 months. Only a few cases have been reported. We propose a new designation and describe a patient who represents the first reported case of acquired Blaschko dermatitis in Korea.

A 45-year-old Korean man had two distinct types of hypopigmented lesions on the forehead and back: vitiligo and nevus depigmentosus (ND). The hypopigmented macules on the forehead were incidentally discovered 15 days previously and responded well to steroid therapy. The hypopigmented macule on the back had been present since birth, was stable in size, and showed no response to steroid therapy. There were no remarkable differences between the two lesions in routine histopathology or Fontana-Masson staining. However, the lesion on the back was shown to contain melanocytes in electron microscopy (EM).

A 25-year-old female has had brown to erythematous telangiectatic patches and grouped papules on her face, neck, arm, and trunk since childhood following B.C.G. vaccination. Histopathologically, the lesions consisted of hyperkeratosis, slight acanthosis, tuberculoid granulomas with some Langerhans type giant cells in the mid-dermis. Although various forms of cutaneous tuberculosis after B.C.G. vaccination have been reported, it was difficult for us to assign the patient's skin lesion to any specific disease entity. Remission of her cutaneous lesions occurred clinically and histopathologically after treatment with isoniazid and rifampin.

To evaluate the incidence of autoimmune disorders and organ-specific autoantibodies in Korean vitiligo patients, antibodies to nuclear, mitochondrial, smooth muscle, gastric parietal cell, thyroglobulin, and microsomal antigens were screened in 226 vitiligo patients and 120 controls. Of the 226 vitiligo patients, three (1.3%) had thyrotoxicosis and two (0.8%) had diabetes mellitus. The vitiligo patients had an increased incidence of antinuclear (12.4%), antimicrosomal (7.1%), and antismooth muscle antibodies (25.7%). The increased incidence of antismooth muscle antibody was correlated with early onset (less than 15 years), a positive family history of vitiligo, and long duration of vitiligo. These results support an autoimmune origin of vitiligo and suggest that the high incidence of antismooth muscle antibody is a distinctive feature of laboratory findings in Korean vitiligo patients.

Cimetidine is an H2-receptor antagonist which is mainly used to treat gastrointestinal diseases. Recently, many authors have suggested that cimetidine has the ability to reverse acquired tolerance to dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB). We have used cimetidine in six patients with verruca plana who showed no therapeutic response to DNCB. Four of them responded and showed complete disappearance of the verruca plana. The mean duration of oral cimetidine administration (1.2 g/day) was 4 weeks until the disappearance. Therefore, we suggest that oral cimetidine can be used as an effective and safe adjunctive modality for the treatment of verruca plana.

Light and electron-microscopic studies were performed on the vitiligo and adjacent, normal appearing skin from 97 patients with actively spreading vitiligo and 19 patients with stable vitiligo. The vitiliginous skin revealed complete loss of pigment and melanocytes. In addition to degenerative changes in melanocytes, vacuolar changes of basal cells, epidermal infiltration of lymphocytes, dermal infiltration of lymphocytes, and melanophages in the upper dermis were also seen in the normal appearing skin adjacent to vitiliginous skin. These epidermal and dermal changes are more prominent in the skin of actively spreading vitiligo than in stable vitiligo. These findings suggest that the adjacent, normal appearing skin of actively spreading vitiligo shows some characteristic histopathologic findings, especially in the epidermis, indicating that cellular immunity could be involved in the pathogenesis of vitiligo.

We report a case of NLS that was unusual. Many nodules coalesced to form a giant cerebriform mass and a large plaque confined to the back where comedo-like plugs were present on the surface. Histopathologic examination of the cerebriform mass showed mature ectopic adipose tissue and cavernous hemangioma in the dermis.