It was found that the Turkish version of the DLQI was an acceptable index for dermatologists and dermatology patients and, moreover, to be valid and reliable in a cross-sectional level. The responsiveness of the Turkish version of the DLQI needs to be tested further on a variety of dermatological conditions with different severities.

Our study demonstrated that the risk of sun exposure is largely unrecognized in Manisa, Turkey, and we have very incomplete information about protective measures. An efficient policy of education on the effective use of sun protection methods should be developed to prevent skin cancer.

Progressive facial hemiatrophy or Parry-Romberg syndrome is a rare entity characterized by unilateral atrophy of the skin, subcutaneous tissue and the underlying bony structures. This syndrome has many features of linear scleroderma 'en coup de sabre' but is distinguished by more extensive involvement of the lower face with only slight cutaneous sclerosis. The onset typically occurs in childhood or young adult years. The aetiology of the condition is unknown. A case of progressive hemifacial atrophy occurring in a 30-year-old woman is reported, in which the aetiology is thought to be Lyme disease, a borrelial infection first recognized in 1975 that has since become the most commonly reported vector-borne disease in the world. No sure link is established between these two disease states, but their coincident occurrence in this patient is noted. We hypothesize that the aetiology of Parry-Romberg syndrome involves borreliosis.

Targetoid haemosiderotic haemangioma represents a new, rarely reported, distinctive, benign vascular tumour, characterized histopathologically by a biphasic growth pattern of dilated vascular structures in the superficial dermis lined by prominent hobnail endothelial cells and collagen dissecting, rather narrow neoplastic vessels in deeper parts of the lesion. In the initial stage, the lesion is seen as a small purple or violaceous papule, 2--3 mm in diameter. Over time, the ecchymotic ring expands peripherally until it disappears spontaneously. In the later stages, however, the central papule remains as a slightly raised dermal lesion with a purple to brownish discolouration. We report three cases whose repetitive cyclic morphological changes of targetoid haemosiderotic haemangiomas were monitored dermoscopically at 3-month follow-ups. Histopathological examination of each lesion identified the features of targetoid haemosiderotic haemangioma. To the best of our knowledge, our three cases are the first reported in the literature of targetoid haemosiderotic haemangiomas that were regularly monitored by dermoscopic examinations, enabling development of the different stages of the same lesion to be followed.

Clinical differentiation of facial lentigo senilis/initial seborrheic keratosis (LS/ISK), seborrheic keratosis (SK), lentigo maligna (LM), and lentigo maligna melanoma (LMM) can be difficult. Dermoscopy improves the diagnoses in pigmented skin lesions (PSLs), but it is not helpful for the sun-exposed face because of the flat rete ridges without network-derived features. Therefore, development of new diagnostic criteria for this particular localization is a current issue of dermatology. In this retrospective study, dermoscopic slides of facial pigmented skin lesions of 66 patients referred to two clinics in Turkey were evaluated. Our aim was to determine the reliability of dermoscopy in the differentiation of these entities. The facial PSLs of 66 patients (34 males and 32 females) (median age: 58.2) were photographed with a Dermaphot (Heine, Hersching, Germany) over a five year period from November of 1995 to May of 2000. All of the dermoscopic slides were analysed according to 27 dermoscopic criteria developed by Schiffner et al. This data set contained 22 histologically proven malignant (14 LM, 8 early LMM) and 44 benign (18 SK, 26 LS/ISK) PSLs. In general, asymmetric pigmented follicular openings, dark streaks, slate-gray streaks, dark globules, slate-gray globules, dark dots, dark rhomboidal structures, light brown rhomboidal structures, dark homogeneous areas and dark pseudonetworks were statistically significant for malignant growth. On the other hand, milia-like cysts, pseudofollicular openings, cerebriform structures, light brown globules, light brown dots, light brown homogeneous areas, yellow opaque homogeneous areas, and light brown pseudonetworks were statistically significant for benign growth. This research emphasizes that dermoscopic features on the face differ from criteria used in other locations of the body. Analysis of the data suggests that dermoscopy can be used in the differentiation of LS/ISK, SK, LM and LMM from each other.