On 31 December 2019 from the Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei, comes the first case of 'atypical ARDS/interstitial pneumonia'. On 11 February 2020, the WHO officially announced the name of the emergent disease associated with new coronavirus identified as SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2): COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019). 1 On 13 February, 72 000 cases have been officially recorded in China, among which 15 000 were registered in Hubei province only, with 242 deaths in a single day. After that, Chinese republic has ordered drastic containment measures for fighting SARS-CoV-2 virus spreading. 1 On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that the international outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 new coronavirus infection had to be considered a pandemic. 2 To date, 14 April 2020, 213 countries are affected worldwide with 1 812 734 confirmed cases and 113 675 deaths worldwide since the epidemic outbreak. 3 In this scenario, probably the most important strategic goal for dermatologists is to assess what their active involvement in this global pandemic might be. For this reason, our goal is to provide the 'state of the art' on this topic. Our personal experience, and a full extensive review of literature, led us to focus our attention on several topics in the management of dermatological patients during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and four main topics have been identified. They are: (ⅰ) cutaneous manifestations related to COVID-19, (ⅰⅰ) the implications of SARS-CoV-2 infection for use of biological drugs and other immunosuppressive and immunomodulatory therapies in dermatological patients, (ⅰⅰⅰ) occupational skin diseases related to hygienic washing and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to avoid SARS-CoV-2 infection among patients and clinicians, and (iv) strategic implications in planning dermatological clinical assistance to population during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Skin manifestations due to SARS-CoV-2 infection are different and often underestimated, since the general conditions of patients are critical, as in several cases of hospitalized COVID-19. However, the most common symptoms of COVID-19 disease are reported in Table 1. Validated studies encompassing a sufficiently large number of patients to fully describe the most frequent ongoing skin manifestations of COVID-19 are not yet available. However, many Myalgia or arthralgia 164 (14.9) Chills 126 (11.5)
Biological therapies revolutionized the treatment of many chronic inflammatory skin diseases, first of all psoriasis, thanks to their high efficacy and the reduced number of side effects. However, the use of a single biologic drug does not always provide complete control of the disease or associated comorbidities over time. The first biological drugs used for the treatment of psoriasis, tumor necrosis factor alpha inhibitors, have
Vitiligo is an acquired hypopigmentation of the skin due to a progressive selective loss of melanocytes; it has a prevalence of 1–2% and appears as rounded, well-demarcated white macules. The etiopathology of the disease has not been well defined, but multiple factors contribute to melanocyte loss: metabolic abnormalities, oxidative stress, inflammation, and autoimmunity. Therefore, a convergence theory was proposed that combines all existing theories into a comprehensive one in which several mechanisms contribute to the reduction of melanocyte viability. In addition, increasingly in-depth knowledge about the disease’s pathogenetic processes has enabled the development of increasingly targeted therapeutic strategies with high efficacy and fewer side effects. The aim of this paper is, by conducting a narrative review of the literature, to analyze the pathogenesis of vitiligo and the most recent treatments available for this condition.
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