Pseudopelade of Brocq (PPB) is a rare, idiopathic, slowly progressive hair disorder, resulting in cicatricial alopecia. It typically presents in Caucasian adult patients as small, smooth, flesh-toned and slightly depressed alopecic patches with irregular outlines. It primarily involves the parietal and vertex portions of the scalp with a chronic prolonged course. Controversial opinions still exist as to whether PPB is a single entity or an end stage of several cicatricial alopecic disorders. A practical approach to diagnosis of PPB and therapeutic update are discussed in this review.

Long-term therapy with the macrolide antibiotic erythromycin was shown to alter the clinical course of diffuse panbronchiolitis in the late 1980s. Since that time, macrolides have been found to have a large number of anti-inflammatory properties in addition to being antimicrobials. These observations provided the rationale for many studies performed to assess the usefulness of macrolides in other inflammatory diseases including skin and hair disorders, such as rosacea, psoriasis, pityriasis rosea, alopecia areata, bullous pemphigoid, and pityriasis lichenoides. This paper summarizes a collection of clinical studies and case reports dealing with the potential benefits of macrolides antibiotics in the treatment of selected dermatoses which have primarily been classified as noninfectious and demonstrating their potential for being disease-modifying agents.

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic infection endemic in more than ninety countries of the world. The cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a most common form of leishmaniasis and it remains to be a major public health issue in Saudi Arabia. This study was undertaken to investigate the Leishmania species responsible for CL infection in different provinces of Qassim, Saudi Arabia. Skin biopsies were obtained from CL patients and DNA was extracted using the Magna pure system. Leishmania species were identified by highly specific/sensitive quantitative and qualitative PCR. Out of total 206 CL biopsies, 49.5% biopsies were found to be positive for Leishmania major (L. major), 28.6% biopsies were positive for Leishmania tropica (L. tropica), 3.9% were found to be positive for Leishmania infantum/donovani (L. infantum/donovani). Not only have these, all tested CL biopsies showed negative test for Leishmania mexicana (L. mexicana) and Leishmania viannia (L. viannia). This is the first comprehensive study that shows the majority of CL in Qassim was caused by L. major and L. tropica. To the best of our knowledge, this is the very first report that shows the occurrence of L. infantum/donovani in Saudi Arabia. This requires higher alert to the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia to take proactive actions in preventing the onset of L. major, L. tropica, L. infantum and L. donovani infections.

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is well linked with immunogenetic factors. This study was undertaken to test the association of TNF-α − 308 and IFN-γ + 874 gene polymorphisms with the susceptibility ofLeishmania (L) speciesamong CL patients in central region of Saudi Arabia.Methods: This is a case-control study involved 169 Saudi subjects with differentL. speciesand 199 healthy controls from central region of Saudi Arabia. All subjects were characterized by TNF-α − 308 G/A and IFN-γ + 874 A/T gene polymorphisms using PCR.Results: Evaluation of genotyping and allelic frequency of TNF-α − 308 G/A in differentL. speciesshowed no significant association compared to controls (p > 0.05). Except, in cases ofL. tropicathat showed significantly higher TNF-α − 308 A versus G allele frequency (p = 0.0004). Evaluation of genotyping of IFN-γ + 874 (TT versus AA+AT recessive) and allelic frequency of IFN-γ + 874 (T versus A) showed significant higher inL. majorand also in total CL cases as compared to healthy controls (p < 0.05). Furthermore, a strong association was observed between the susceptibility ofL. major,L. tropica ortotal CL cases with synergistically combined high TNF-α 308/INF-γ 874 alleles.Conclusions: This is the first report that shows the gene polymorphisms of TNF-α − 308 G/A and IFN-γ + 874 A/T in Saudi patients with differentL. speciesinfections.Data showed that the TNF-α-308 G/A gene polymorphism is not associated with the susceptibility of CL in Saudi subjects. The only correlation was found in between A versus G allelic frequency inL. tropica.Importantly, IFN-γ + 874 A/T polymorphism was found to be associated with the susceptibility ofL. majorand also with total CL subjects. Moreover, data from synergistically combined high TNF-α 308/INF-γ 874 alleles strongly suggest their potential role in the susceptibility of leishmania infection.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of atopic dermatitis (AD) on the quality of life (QoL) of Saudi infants and children using a validated/culturally adapted Arabic version of the infants’ dermatitis quality of life (IDQoL) index, and to investigate the correlation between IDQoL and disease severity. METHODS: This study was performed in the Dermatology Clinics and Hospitals affiliated to Qassim University, Buraidah, Saudi Arabia between September 2012 and August 2013. The study was designed to investigate the role of IDQoL in AD patients with different severities. The AD patients (n=630) were evaluated for IDQoL and disease severity using the SCORing of Atopic Dermatitis index. RESULTS: The average (+/=standard deviation) of IDQoL score was 12.3+/=5.1 for all studied subjects. The IDQoL scores were significantly different among the 3 studied severity groups, with a highest score in the severe group (p=0.000). A positive correlation was observed between the severity of AD and IDQoL scores (r=0.596, p=0.000). Three items with a negative impact on IDQoL were itching and scratching, the child’s mood, and time to get the child to sleep. All these reached a significantly higher value in the severe group compared with the moderate or mild groups (p=0.000). No significant differences were observed concerning gender or the association with other atopic disorders (p=0.99, and p=0.79). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that AD manifestations impaired the IDQoL of Saudi patients and were also well correlated with the disease severity score.