<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Female pattern hair loss (FPHL) is a common form of nonscarring hair loss. We compared the usefulness and safety of topical minoxidil alone with combination of oral spironolactone and topical minoxidil in the treatment of FPHL.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> This prospective, single-centre, randomised open label study over 100 patients attending tertiary care hospital in Mumbai during period December 2011 to June 2012. The data were entered into SPSS version 21 for analysis. Data collected were coded and described as frequency and percentage for qualitative data and means and standard deviation for quantitative data. Statistical analysis was done using chi-square and student t test. Statistical significance was considered if p value was less than 0.05.<strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> There were 48 patients in Group I and 46 patients in Group II. At 6 months, significantly higher mean Sinclair grade was observed among Group I patients as compared to Group II patients (2.85±0.68 vs 2.56±0.50, p=0.02). We observed a significant improvement in women’s androgenetic alopecia quality of life questionnaire in Group I patients at 12 months after treatment (26.93±2.25 vs 23.47±2.95, p&lt;0.001). Minoxidil and spironolactone were tolerated well by the patients.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Combination therapy of topical minoxidil and oral spironolactone has an additive effect. However, plateau of effectiveness of the combination therapy in normoandrogenic patients at 6 months of therapy was observed. We recommend the combination for 6 months and continuation of therapy with minoxidil only.</p>

Fetal varicella syndrome (FVS) is an extremely rare condition of the newborn, characterized by cutaneous scars, limb defects, ocular, and central nervous system abnormalities. It follows maternal varicella infection during early pregnancy. We are reporting a 4-day-old female child who presented with a linear, depressed, erythematous, localized scarring over the right knee with hypoplasia of the right lower limb and malformed right great toe. Clinical presentation of her right foot was resembling congenital talipes equinovarus. Mother had a history of varicella during the first trimester of pregnancy. Ocular examination revealed subretinal hypopigmented exudation with scanty vitreous hemorrhage and tunica vasculosa lentis seen on indirect ophthalmoscopy in the right eye. Ultrasonic A/B scan of the right eye was suggestive of microphthalmia. We confirmed the diagnosis of FVS based on characteristic history, clinical features, and varicella-zoster IgG antibodies were positive.

Atypical mycobacterial infections are caused by mycobacteria other than those from the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and Mycobacterium leprae. They are ubiquitous, aerobic, nonmotile, and acid-fast bacilli seen in soil and water. Here, we report the case of a 31-year-old married female who presented with multiple painful pus-filled lesions over both the breast, abdomen, and back associated with yellow-colored discharge for 6 months. Tuberculosis-polymerase chain reaction revealed the presence of atypical mycobacteria which on further investigation with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight isolated Mycobacterium abscessus species.

Nevoid hyperkeratosis of nipple and areola was first described by Tauber in 1923. It is a rare idiopathic disorder characterized by papular warty excrescences on the nipple and areola or both. Histopathology shows hyperkeratosis, acanthosis, papillomatosis, elongation of rete ridges, filiform interconnecting pattern, increased pigmentation in the basal layer, and sparse perivascular lymphocytic infiltrate. We report two cases of nevoid hyperkeratosis of nipple because of rarity of this condition.

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Leprosy is a slowly progressive mildly infectious disease caused by <em>Mycobacterium leprae</em> primarily affecting skin and peripheral nerves. After introduction of multidrug therapy in the country recorded leprosy case load has come down. In December 2005, India announced elimination of leprosy as public health problem at national level under the NLEP but new cases are still being registered.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> It was a hospital based cross sectional study conducted on over 109 leprosy patients attending a tertiary care hospital in Narhe, Pune during the period from 1^st January 2018 to 31^stDecember 2018. The statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows version (16.0) was used to analyze the data (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). Statistical significance was declared at p&lt;0.05 or mentioned otherwise.<strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Out of 109 patients, 57 were new and 52 were old. Maximum patients belong to age group 40-49 years, 25 patients had type 1 reaction and 18 had type 2 reaction. Out of which 83 were on treatment and 12 are defaulter, 9 were in relapse, 6 patients released from treatment.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> In post elimination era of leprosy still new cases have been registered and hence the burden and morbidity of the disease is still high in the community. It strongly suggests that by early detection, increasing the duration of treatment and by increasing the community awareness, utilizing information, education and communication at all levels, we can hope to reduce the burden of disease in the community and to achieve the dream of leprosy free India.</p><p class="abstract"> </p>