Periungual wart is a kind of verruca vulgaris that occurs alongside or underlying the nails, which is challenging to treat and prone to recurrence, seriously affecting the quality of patients’ life. We report a 6-year-old boy with periungual warts who had experienced various treatments with no improvement and even worsening. Therefore, we tried to treat the patient with local hyperthermia which uses a patented device that has an infrared emission source. The heat generated by infrared rays acts on the local skin surface. The mechanism of this therapy may be to establish a specific immune response against human papillomavirus-infected tissues, thereby facilitating the clearance of human papillomavirus at irradiated and non-irradiated sites. Local hyperthermia has the advantages of non-contact, safety, noninvasive, less pain, and so on. After 5 treatments, the irradiated periungual warts completely cleared after 2 weeks. The unirradiated sites were almost cured after 7 weeks. This case suggests that local thermotherapy has shown great advantages in the treatment of these refractory periungual warts and offers a new and effective therapy in patients with periungual warts.

Background Herpetic folliculitis (HF) is a rare manifestation of herpes virus infection of the skin, which has different presentations causing frequent misdiagnosis. Previous literature has reported follicular infections caused by herpes simplex virus (HSV) in the beard area, called herpetic sycosis, but only a few cases presented facial extensive folliculitis. Purpose This case series aimed to describe the clinical features of facial generalized herpetic folliculitis. Methods We retrospectively collected a case series of 20 patients with facial diffused herpetic folliculitis diagnosed clinically or experimentally from outpatients between 2012 and 2022. The reported cases similar to HF of literature were concluded. Results There were 19 females and 1 male in this study. Disease duration varied from 1 to 10 days, and lesion manifestations were predominantly papules and maculopapules. Most patients suffered spontaneous pain or pruritus and recovered with antiviral treatment. All cases achieved great improvements in lesions after antiviral and topical medication therapy. Conclusion This case series suggests that in patients with infectious folliculitis of the face when the lesions develop acutely and diffusely, dermatologists should take into account the possibility of herpetic folliculitis, especially in cases where antibacterial or antifungal therapy is resistant, and actively administer antiviral therapy after diagnosis.

Background Skin carbuncle is a suppurative infection of adjacent multiple hair follicles and their surrounding tissues, mostly caused by Staphylococcus aureus . Skin carbuncle often occurs in the neck, the back, and other skin thicker parts. It can also spread to the subcutaneous tissue and cause extensive subcutaneous infection. It is especially common in people with low immunity such as diabetes, nephritis, and malnutrition. Patients and Methods We reported four cases of carbuncle of the neck, three of which were treated with traditional Chinese medicine therapy based on fire needles combined with topical drugs, and the other one was treated by surgical incision and drainage, debridement, and dressing change. Results All four cases achieved good therapeutic effects. The results showed that in the treatment of early carbuncle, compared with surgical treatment, fire needle therapy had less trauma, smaller prognosis scar, less cost, and faster recovery. However, when the carbuncle significantly expands or the deep tissue of the late carbuncle shows erosion necrosis, surgical debridement is necessary. Conclusion The traditional Chinese medicine therapy based on the fire needle for the early treatment of carbuncle has important clinical significance, which is worthy of further study.

Background: Skin abscesses are a common skin condition usually caused by bacterial infections and their incidence is increasing in children. Its current management strategy is still mainly incision and drainage, sometimes with antibiotics. In pediatric patients, surgical incision and drainage of skin abscesses is challenging compared to in adults because of their specific age and psychological characteristics and high aesthetic requirements. Therefore, it is important to seek better treatment options. Patients and methods: We reported 17 cases of skin abscesses in pediatric patients aged 1 to 9 years. Ten cases had lesions on the face and neck and 7 cases on the trunk and limbs. They all received treatment based on fire needle combined with topical mupirocin. Results:The lesions of all 17 pediatric patients healed within 4 to 14 days, with a median time of 6 days, and all achieved satisfactory results with no scarring left behind. No adverse events were observed in all patients, and no recurrence occurred within 4 weeks. Conclusion: For skin abscesses in pediatric patients, early application of a combination therapy based on fire needle is convenient, aesthetic, economical, safe and clinically important as an alternative to incision and drainage, and deserves further clinical promotion.