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Byline: Arun. Achar, Maloy. Pramanik, Chinjitha. Davis, Alok. Roy, Suchibrata. Das, Joyeeta. Chowdhury Sir, Lipoid proteinosis is a rare autosomal recessive deposition disorder in which amorphous hyaline material is deposited [...]

Tuberous sclerosis is a rare neuro-cutaneous syndrome with autosomal dominant penetrance. Only some organs are involved, e.g., skin (earthy skin thickenings, ash leaf patches), cerebral cortex (hamartomatous nodules) and kidneys, (angiolipoma, adenocarcinoma). These hamar-tomatous swellings resemble potatoes and hence, referred to as tubers. We herein report on three patients (all familial), father, son and granddaughter, with this rare involvement, from the eastern part of India. The father and son had involvement of only the skin (i.e. nose) and kidneys while the disease penetrated further in the subsequent filial generations with son and granddaughter having skin, brain and bilateral kidney involvement. This kind of tri-filial progression has not till date, been reported from this region, making it an interesting case presentation.

Verrucous hemangioma is a rare form of vascular malformation which is usually congenital. Most of the cases present as wart-like dark blue to erythematous papules, nodules and plaques with special predilection in lower extrimities. We are reporting here a 19-year-old Muslim patient with large Verrucous hemangioma in the left leg along with discending of right shoulder without any signs of neurological involvement. Patient was successfully treated with repeat serial Electrocautory.

Byline: Arun. Achar, Sanjay. Rathi Background: Melasma is an acquired increased pigmentation of the skin, characterized by gray-brown symmetrical patches, mostly in the sun-exposed areas of the skin. The pathogenesis [...]

Byline: Arun. Achar, Biswanath. Naskar, Prabodh. Mondal, Mallika. Pal Xanthogranuloma is a benign, asymptomatic, and self-healing disorder of non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis, affecting mostly infants, children, and rarely adults. Diagnosis is [...]

Byline: Arun. Achar, Gobinda. Chatterjee, Tapobrata. Ray, Biswanath. Naskar Sir, The most common and most intractable sequel of herpes zoster is postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). There is no universally accepted definition [...]

Objective To evaluate the clinical and demographical pattern of alopecia areata (AA) and their association with other diseases. Methods A cross-sectional multicentric study of 410 patients with AA was carried out during the period of January 2013 to December 2014. A detail clinical and demographical pattern of the disease was taken in a prescribed proforma along with the association of other diseases, if present. Results A total of 410 patients with AA were included in the study with age ranging from 1 year to 74 years, out of which 206 were males and 204 females. The commonest age at onset was 21-30 years. Multilocular patches were the commonest presentation. Based on the pattern, patchy AA was most commonly seen, followed by ophiasis and sisiapho. Eyebrow involvement was common in the ophiasis group as compared to other types. Nail involvement was found in 45.4% patients and pitting was the most common finding. A history of previous episode of AA was present in 32.4% of patient. Severity of AA with increasing area of involvement was seen in the relapse group of patients. Scalp was the commonest hair bearing area of involvement (76.8%), as well as, was also the first site of involvement. In 12.7%, there was a past history of AA. The commonest associated disease was atopic dermatitis (5.8%). Other diseases like thyroid, vitiligo, diabetes, collagenvascular disease etc. were also noted in our study. Conclusion AA is a disease of the younger age group. We assessed the demographic profile of the patients and try to correlate it with other studies and hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum is a rare autosomal recessive skin disease with a slight female preponderance and often presents a therapeutic challenge due to additional risk to eyes and cardiovascular system. Clumping and distortion of elastic fibres in target organ leads to deposition of calcium and impair the function of elastic fibres of mid and deep dermis, media and intima of midsized arteries, Bruch's membrane in eye. Here we present three cases in the same family who presented with yellowish flat plaques, papules in the front and lateral side of the neck. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fixed drug eruptions (FDE) are common cutaneous adverse drug reaction observed in clinical practice. Ornidazole, a 5-nitroimidazole antiamoebic drug, is not a very well known cause of FDE. Few cases of ornidazole induced FDE had been reported so far. However, another nitroimidazole antiamoebic drug metronidazole is a common offender for causing FDE. We report a 37 year old female patient who developed severe pain and burning sensation within the mouth about 3 to 4 hours after the intake of the first dose of ornidazole. On examination it was found that the patient had developed FDE in the oral cavity and lips. Next day she developed FDE in the palm of both hands. Ornidazole was withdrawn and she was prescribed oral prednisolone 40 mg daily along with povidone iodine mouth wash. The lesions got resolved in next 6 to 7 days. We found a probable association between this FDE and ornidazole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anthrax is a life-threatening infectious disease that normally affects animals, especially ruminants. It is caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis. The most common mode of infection is through the skin, which causes a painless sore that usually heals without treatment. If left untreated, cutaneous anthrax may progress in up to 20% of cases to septicaemia with potentially lethal outcome., Methodology: We visited a small tribal village of the state of West Bengal, where an outbreak of cutaneous anthrax was suspected following slaughtering a dead bullock. The population at risk were subjected to detailed interrogation, thorough clinical examination and relevant investigations., Results: The mean age of our study population was 32.1 years, and 100% were male. The mean incubation period was three days. Most cases (81.8%) were exposed to the bacteria during butchering. The predominantly affected sites were fingers (54.5%), followed by forearms (18.2%), around elbows (18.2%) and arm (9.1%). All cases initially had painless papules, ulcers with vesicles; dissemination of the lesion was seen in 27.3% of patients. 9 patients (who were alive) underwent complete blood count, baseline biochemistry and chest X-ray. Smears were made from the cutaneous lesions for gram's stain in 5 patients. Wound swabs were also inoculated in nutrient broth and subcultured in blood agar media. FNAC from the enlarged axillary lymph node was done in 1 patient and blood was sent for aerobic culture in 2 individuals. Both the blood cultures were sterile. Smears made from the culture obtained from cutaneous lesion of one of the affected person revealed gram positive aerobic spore bearing non-motile bacilli in long chain with capsular halo suggesting Bacillus anthracis. In this outbreak, the attack rate was 7% and case fatality rate was 18%., Conclusion: Cutaneous anthrax should be considered as a differential diagnosis in cases presenting with painless ulcers, vesicles or eschars with a recent history of exposure to animals or animal products. It is important to recognise the clinical aspects of this disease in routine practice since any delay in treatment may have fatal consequences, as observed in this study.

Echinococcus granulosus causes a zoonotic infection called Cystic Echinococcosis (CE). Surgeons meet with hydatid cysts of the liver and lungs with reasonable frequency. However hydatid cyst may also appear in other parts of the body. A 30 years old lady presented with a smooth slow-growing subcutaneous nodule on the anteromedial side of the right thigh with no detectable primary site in the liver or lung. The case was subsequently diagnosed as hydatid cyst of muscle and radical surgery was done under coverage of anihelminthic drug. The common practice in this type of case is to do fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) taking the lesion to be a soft tissue neoplasm. The aim of this case presentation is to be aware of that in case of a diffuse non-tender swelling with history of gradual increase in size, hydatid cyst should be considered in the differential diagnosis.

Epidermolytic hyperkeratosis is a rare autosomal dominant genodermatosis that presents at birth as generalised erythema, blisters and erosions. In subsequent periods, erythema and blistering improves but patients go on to develop hyperkeratosis scalingthat is especially prominent along joint flexures, neck, hands and feet. The disease is caused by mutations in either keratin 1 or 10. Treatment options include topical emollients containing glycerin, lactic acid, urea and alpha-hydroxy acid and topical and systemic retinoids. Here a rare case in a 23 years old male is reported with epidermolytic hyperkeratosis and treated successfully with mixture of topical emollients with retinoid and systemic isotretinoin.