Introduction: Genital warts are a troublesome therapeutic issue. Pulsed-dye laser (PDL) is a non-ablative therapeutic tool for viral warts. Intralesional Candida albicans (C. albicans) immunotherapy has yielded promising results in treatment of various types of warts. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of PDL versus C. albicans immunotherapy for treatment of genital warts. Methods: Forty adult patients with genital warts were divided into two equal groups; the first was treated using PDL and the second using intralesional C. albicans antigen injection. Treatments were performed at 3-week intervals until complete lesion resolution or for a maximum of three sessions. Results: PDL yielded higher complete clearance rates (95%) than C. albicans antigen (50%; p = 0.001), which in turn had the advantage of treating distant and internal genital warts. Apart from pain during the session in PDL, both modalities were well tolerated with no recurrence in cured patients during the 16-week follow-up period. Conclusions: PDL and C. albicans antigen injection are safe and effective treatment alternatives for genital warts. PDL yielded better frequencies of clearance, but C. albicans antigen has additional advantages, including a single injection site and treating distant and internal mucosal uninjected warts, which are usually difficult to treat.

Summary Background Alopecia areata (AA) is multifactorial disease mostly autoimmune affecting anagen hair follicles. Many researchers hypothesize that adequate retinoic acid (RA) levels are important for proper hair follicle behavior. Previous animal studies revealed increase in RA synthesis proteins and decrease in RA degradation proteins in AA patients when compared with controls. Objective To evaluate cellular retinol‐binding protein‐1 expression in lesional skin of alopecia areata in comparison with controls, in an attempt to know its role in the pathogenesis of alopecia areata . Methods Immunohistochemical expression of cellular retinol‐binding protein‐1 CRBP1 was evaluated in skin biopsies taken from lesions of alopecia areata in 30 patients and 10 normal biopsy specimens taken from skin of healthy controls (HC) who were within the same age and sex. Results CRBP1 expression was significantly increased in lesional alopecia areata skin in comparison with normal skin of controls (P < 0.001*). Significant positive correlation was found between expression of CRBP‐1 and percentage of hair loss in the scalp (SALT score; r = 0.840, P = <0.001). Conclusion These results may enhance the idea of the possible role of CRBP1 in the pathogenesis of AA, and ensuring the importance of its level in AA treatment.