A Dermoscopic Study of Cutaneous Warts and Its Utility in Monitoring Real-Time Wart Destruction by Radiofrequency Ablation

Interleukins in the Pathogenesis of Warts: Insight from the Last Decade-A Narrative Review

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the etiological agent of a wide spectrum of diseases, from benign lesions to neoplasms. In most cases, in the first few years after infection, viral clearance occurs; however, in some cases, the infection remains persistent, allowing the progression of the lesions. The host immune response plays a key role in the resolution of the infection. The immune response to HPV is regulated by the dynamic interaction between numerous interleukins that exert pro- or anti-inflammatory effects. The role of interleukins in malignant lesions caused by HPV has been intensively studied, but in the case of benign lesions including warts, data are limited. This review compiles data from the last 10 years on the involvement of interleukins in the pathogenesis of warts, with the aim of providing new perspectives on this topic. Elucidating the role of interleukins will not only increase our knowledge of the pathogenesis of HPV infection but will also provide the foundation for the development of new therapies.

Exploring Pediatric Dermatology in Skin of Color: Focus on Dermoscopy

This literature review aims to comprehensively evaluate the clinical and dermoscopic presentations of common pediatric diseases among children with skin of color (SoC) while also addressing potential variations based on racial backgrounds. This review encompasses various conditions, such as nevi subtypes, viral infections, infestations, and inflammatory dermatoses, as well as hair diseases and abnormal vascular formations, occurring in pediatric populations. Overall, we identified 7 studies on nevi subtypes, 24 studies on skin infections, 6 on inflammatory dermatoses, 10 on hair diseases and disorders, and 14 on miscellaneous disorders that also satisfied our SoC- and race-specific criteria. In case of no results, we assumed that dermoscopic findings are similar between SoC adults and children, confirming the hypothesis with our cases of dark-skinned Indian child patients. Inflammatory dermatoses such as psoriasis, eczema, and cutaneous mastocytosis, as well as skin infections like cutaneous leishmaniasis, appear with brownish backgrounds or exhibit dark structures more frequently than the respective dermoscopy images of Caucasian populations. Dermoscopy traits such as erythema in tinea capitis are uncommon or even absent on a dark-colored scalp, while a dark skin tone often obscures many characteristic features, such as dark and yellow dots in alopecia areata and even parts of an intradermal parasite in the case of scabies. Race-specific traits were also observed, such as corkscrew hair in tinea capitis, primarily seen in patients of African origin. Many dermoscopic images are consistent between SoC and non-SoC in various skin lesions, including vascular anomalies, juvenile xanthogranuloma, mastocytoma, and viral skin lesions like molluscum contagiosum, as well as in various hair disorders such as trichotillomania, while tinea capitis displays the most diverse reported dermoscopic features across SoC- and race-specific studies.

Dermoscopy of Infectious Dermatoses (Infectiouscopy) in Skin of Color - A Systematic Review by the International Dermoscopy Society "Imaging in Skin of Color" Task Force

Dermoscopy has been showed to facilitate the non-invasive recognition of several infectious disorders (infectiouscopy) thanks to the detection of peculiar clues. Although most of the knowledge on this topic comes from studies involving light-skinned patients, there is growing evidence about its use also in dark phototypes. This systematic literature review summarizes published data on dermoscopy of parasitic, bacterial, viral and fungal dermatoses (dermoscopic findings, used setting, pathological correlation, and level of evidence of studies) and provides a homogeneous terminology of reported dermoscopic features according to a standardized methodology. A total of 66 papers addressing 41 different dermatoses (14 bacterial, 5 viral, 11 fungal infections, and 11 parasitoses/bites and stings) and involving a total of 1096 instances were included in the analysis. The majority of them displayed a level of evidence of V (44 single case reports and 21 case series), with only 1 study showing a level of evidence of IV (case-control analysis). Moreover, our analysis also highlighted a high variability in the terminology used in the retrieved studies. Thus, although promising, further studies designed according to a systematic and standardized approach are needed for better characterization of dermoscopy of infectious skin infections.