BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: A relatively long incubation time is needed for photosensitizer absorption in conventional photodynamic therapy (PDT) for actinic keratosis (AK). The use of ablative CO2 fractional lasers (AFXLs) to increase drug delivery could shorten the incubation time. Here, we aimed to compare the efficacy between AFXL-assisted PDT with a short incubation time and conventional PDT for AK.

METHODS: Patients with histopathologically confirmed facial AK were randomly divided into ...

Nipple eczema exhibits as a minor manifestation of atopic dermatitis (AD) or occurs as a single skin symptom on the nipple. To characterize the relationship between nipple eczema and AD, a clinical evaluation and an immunohistochemical study were performed. All cases of nipple eczema were confirmed histopathologically. We divided the patients with nipple eczema into 2 groups, namely, those with AD and those without AD, and compared several clinical features. Upon histological ...

The stratum corneum and epidermal pigmentation have protective roles against ultraviolet radiation. Because vitiligo skin lacks melanocytes and has no potential to produce pigment, some studies suggested that the epidermis in vitiligo skin is thicker than in normal skin. However, only a few studies investigated epidermal thickness changes in vitiligo, and some of these had relatively small sample sizes. Thus, this study aimed to compare epidermal thickness between vitiligo skin and ...

BACKGROUND: Keloids are characterized by excessive collagen deposition in the dermis, in which transforming growth factor β (TGF-β)/Smad signaling plays an important role. Low-level light therapy (LLLT) is reported as effective in preventing keloids in clinical reports, recently. To date, studies investigating the effect of LLLT on keloid fibroblasts are extremely rare.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the effect of LLLT with blue (410 nm), red (630 nm), and infrared (830 nm) light on the ...

Bowen disease (BD), or intraepithelial squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), may progress to an invasive SCC. Although surgery is preferred because of the low recurrence rate, it can result in hypertrophic scarringor contracture, particularly in lesions on the hands. We report a case of BD in the first web space of the hand, which was treated with ablative fractional laser-assisted photodynamic therapy (AFXL-assisted PDT). After multiple AFXL-assisted PDT sessions, the lesion showed no clinical ...