Der Hautarzt; Zeitschrift für Dermatologie, Venerologie, und verwandte Gebiete
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Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is a small, gram-negative, non-motile, coccobacillus. Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is known to cause periodontal disease and to be associated with actinomycosis. ⋯ The importance of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans in chronic wounds needs to be explored.
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Pruritus, especially chronic pruritus, has long been underestimated and leads to high psychological strain in the affected patients. Even today, in spite of receiving increased attention, the underlying etiology cannot always be identified. ⋯ With regard to the demographic development of the population with increasing life expectancy and the resulting increasing polypharmacy, drugs will have to be taken into account as a possible cause for pruritus more often in the future. It would be desirable to routinely assess pruritus as a possible adverse effect in regulatory drug studies.
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Postherpetic neuralgia is considered to be a neuropathic pain syndrome. Typically, patients experience pain in the dermatomes of skin lesions persisting for more than 3 months after skin restitution. About 10 % of patients with herpes zoster develop postherpetic neuralgia. ⋯ Clinical studies did show pain relief in postherpetic neuralgia after administration of antidepressants, antiepileptic drugs, opioids, and topical capsaicin and lidocaine. Nevertheless, about one third of patients do not respond to conventional treatment. Given the fact that postherpetic neuralgia is considered to be a chronic pain disease, a multidisciplinary treatment approach is necessary.
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A 55-year-old woman presented with blistering on the back of her hands and shiny, thickened skin in her décolletage. Laboratory examination revealed increased urinary total and high carboxylated porphyrins and homozygosity for mutation C282Y in the HFE gene. ⋯ Pseudoscleroderma is a rare complication of PCT but can also constitute the first cutaneous symptom of the disease, leading the way to diagnosis. Usually, adequate treatment of PCT with normalization of porphyrin values also results in improvement of pseudoscleroderma.