Temporal triangular alopecia (TTA) is a circumscribed, non-cicatricial form of alopecia confined to the frontotemporal region. The patient, a 15-year-old boy, was noticed at birth to have an alopecial area, sized 1.5 cm x 2.5 cm, in the right temporal region. Microscopic examination revealed miniaturized hair follicles accompanied by differentiated sebaceous glands. We have provided a synopsis of the past 52 cases. Of the 53 cases of TTA including our case, more than half (55.8%) were detected in childhood between the ages of 2 and 9 years, while 36.5% were detected at birth and only 3.8% (only two cases) in adulthood. There were three familial cases. Several congenital diseases were associated with the condition, for example, phakomatosis pigmentovascularis, Down syndrome and Dandy-Walker malformation. This information suggests that TTA can be recognized as a hamartomatous mosaic disease.

Burns are a common type of skin injury encountered at all levels of medical facilities from private clinics to core hospitals. Minor burns heal by topical treatment alone, but moderate to severe burns require systemic management, and skin grafting is often necessary also for topical treatment. Inappropriate initial treatment or delay of initial treatment may exert adverse effects on the subsequent treatment and course. Therefore, accurate evaluation of the severity and initiation of appropriate treatment are necessary. The Guidelines for the Management of Burn Injuries were issued in March 2009 from the Japanese Society for Burn Injuries as guidelines concerning burns, but they were focused on the treatment for extensive and severe burns in the acute period. Therefore, we prepared guidelines intended to support the appropriate diagnosis and initial treatment for patients with burns that are commonly encountered including minor as well as moderate and severe cases. Because of this intention of the present guidelines, there is no recommendation of individual surgical procedures.

Although androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is not a systemic disease, some patients suffer from anxiety about the progression of their condition. This study was conducted in order to ascertain whether treatment by oral finasteride can improve the quality of life (QOL) of these patients. Twenty-seven male AGA patients aged 19-76 years (average, 33.8) answered the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), WHO/QOL-26 and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaires before and after the administration of finasteride (1 mg/day) for 6 months. Patients assessed by physicians as "excellent" or "good" were defined as "high responders"; those assessed as "moderate" or "no change" were "low responders". The changes in QOL before and after the treatment were statistically analyzed, and the improved value of each QOL index of the high responders and low responders from baseline were compared. There was a statistical difference in the VAS (P < 0.0001) and DLQI (P < 0.01) indices before and after the administration of finasteride. No significant changes occurred in the WHO/QOL-26 and STAI indices. Comparison of the high responders (11 cases) and low responders (16 cases) revealed no statistical difference in the improvement of VAS and DLQI scores. Oral finasteride improves the QOL of these patients, and VAS and DLQI are useful for the evaluation of patients' QOL because of the high sensitivity of these tests. However, oral finasteride did not alleviate the patients' anxiety nor did its efficacy correlate with the level of reported anxiety.

No abstract

Androgenetic alopecia is an androgen-induced pattern of progressive hair loss, which occurs in genetically predisposed people. This study aimed to determine long-term safety, tolerability and efficacy of dutasteride 0.5 mg, an inhibitor of 5-a-reductase, in Japanese male patients with androgenetic alopecia. This was a multicenter, open-label, prospective outpatient study (clinicaltrials.gov NCT01831791, GSK identifier ARI114264) in which patients took dutasteride 0.5 mg p.o. once daily for 52 weeks. Primary end-points included adverse event assessment, incidence of drug-related adverse event and premature discontinuations. Secondary end-points included hair growth, hair restoration and global improvement in hair. A total of 120 patients were enrolled, of whom 110 completed 52 weeks of treatment. Nasopharyngitis, erectile dysfunction and decreased libido were the most frequently reported adverse events and most adverse events were mild. Drug-related adverse events were reported with an incidence of 17%, none of which led to study withdrawal. Hair growth (mean target area hair count at week 52), hair restoration (mean target area hair width at week 52) and global appearance of hair (mean of the median score at week 52) improved from baseline during the study. As a potential future treatment option for male androgenetic alopecia, dutasteride 0.5 mg exhibited long-term safety, tolerability and efficacy within this study population.