What's already known about this topic?

• Human malignant melanoma contains morphologically heterogeneous populations of cells and expresses different markers of stemness.
• Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) represents a new imaging tool for more accurate melanoma detection, which enables the in vivo visualization of cell morphology.

What does this study add?

• Melanomas with atypical cells organized in large dermal nests, recognized by RCM, correlate to CD271 positivity and high potential for malignancy.
• This is probably due to the presence of a cell type intrinsically predisposed to invasion.

What's already known about this topic?

• The regeneration of blood vessels in port-wine stain (PWS) after pulsed dye laser treatment is a critical barrier that must be overcome to achieve an adequate therapeutic outcome.
• Activation of angiogenesis pathways induced by PDL contributes to PWS blood vessel recurrence.

What does this study add?

• Topical application of 0·5% axitinib can systematically suppress PDL-induced angiogenesis.
• We propose a potentially new therapeutic strategy using PDL + axitinib for the clinical management of patients with PWS.

What's already known about this topic?

• Pulsed dye lasers (PDLs) are increasingly used for treating basal cell carcinomas (BCCs).
• However, so far there have been no sufficiently powered randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in the literature analysing the efficacy and safety of these devices.

What does this study add?

• To the best of our knowledge, this is the first RCT that analyses the 595-nm PDL in the treatment of superficial BCC at uncritical anatomical sites (trunk and extremities) with a follow-up of 6 months.

What's already known about this topic?

• Pulsed-dye laser (PDL) was one of the first widespread treatments for port-wine stain (PWS). Significant advances in the technique of PDL and its efficacy and safety for treating PWS have been demonstrated in previous studies.
• Vbeam^® and Cynergy^® are both 595-nm PDL systems that have been widely used to treat PWS lesions. No prior study has compared the efficacy of the two pieces of equipment.

What does this study add?

• This is the first prospective side-by-side comparison study of 595-nm PDL devices.
• Our results suggest that Vbeam may have higher efficacy in the treatment of PWS than Cynergy. Despite using supposedly equivalent fluences in 595-nm PDLs, equivalent clinical results cannot be guaranteed.

What's already known about this topic?

• Patient survival and the proportion of thin cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) has been rising over time in most Western countries, although the corresponding rate of improvement of survival appears to have declined in Sweden at the end of the last millennium.

What does this study add?

• Swedish nationwide time trends of tumour thickness in CMM have been analysed for the first time.
• A shift over time towards thinner CMMs for men was accompanied by a 19% improved 5-year CMM-specific survival.
• Corresponding changes were not observed for women, although a superior 5-year CMM-specific survival still exists compared with that of men, motivating a continued need for improved secondary preventive actions for men.

What's already known about this topic?

• Head and neck melanomas (HNMs) are frequent, occur in elderly people and have a poor prognosis.
• Population-based data on HNMs remain limited, and few studies have included a comprehensive comparison with melanomas at other sites (MOS).

What does this study add?

• In this population-based French study, HNMs differed from MOS by age of occurrence, histological type and a higher proportion of in situ cases, contrasting with a higher proportion of thick tumours.
• HNMs located in the peripheral and central areas of the head and neck had different clinical and histological features.
• Different patterns of sun exposure could explain these differences. Specific prevention messages targeting HNMs should be developed.

What's already known about this topic?

• The classification of vitiligo has important implications.
• Few observations of vitiligo minor/hypochromic vitiligo, a rare entity affecting mainly individuals with dark skin types, have been reported.

What does this study add?

• We herein delineate a new entity that we called ‘hypochromic vitiligo’ through a case series of 24 patients with typical clinical presentation.

What's already known about this topic?

• Localized scleroderma is characterized by a phase of disease activity followed by remission. However, disease recurrences occur.

What does this study add?

• Recurrences occur in almost one-quarter of patients and are more frequent in the linear localized scleroderma of the limbs subtype, independent of age at disease onset.
• Awareness of high recurrence rates may help treating physicians to recognize reactivation of the disease, leading to a decreased delay in treatment reinitiation.

What's already known about this topic?

• Patients with pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and their relatives are more likely to develop concomitant autoimmune diseases.
• PV has been associated with a large number of autoimmune diseases in the literature.
• There is no consensus as to whether PV forms specific disease clusters with other autoimmune diseases.

What does this study add?

• The prevalence of autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and type 1 diabetes is significantly increased in patients with PV.
• Cluster analysis of comorbid autoimmune diseases within patients with PV and family members reveals that PV forms a distinct cluster with AITD, RA and type 1 diabetes.
• Awareness of these disease associations may identify individuals at risk and may inform the search for common risk genes.

What's already known about this topic?

• Imiquimod is superior to photodynamic therapy in the treatment of superficial basal cell carcinoma (sBCC).
• There are only a few noncomparative studies on possible patient and tumour characteristics that influence noninvasive treatment response.

What does this study add?

• Higher probability of treatment success for imiquimod vs. methylaminolevulinate photodynamic therapy (MAL-PDT) was found in most subgroups.
• Imiquimod was superior in females, large tumours and sBCC on the trunk.
• In patients > 60 years with an sBCC on the lower extremities MAL-PDT was more effective than imiquimod.

What's already known about this topic?

• Psoralen–ultraviolet A is effective in the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris, but has long-term carcinogenic risks, especially for squamous cell carcinoma.

What does this study add?

• The digital phototherapy device skintrek allows digital ultraviolet therapy of diseased skin while simultaneously sparing the healthy adjacent skin.
• Therefore skintrek potentially reduces the carcinogenic risk, reduces premature skin ageing and avoids tanning of healthy surrounding skin.

What's already known about this topic?

• Frequently occurring adverse events during treatment with fumaric acid esters (FAEs) include gastrointestinal complaints and flushing.
• A substantial proportion of patients treated with FAEs have to discontinue treatment due to intolerable adverse events.

What does this study add?

• Blocking the histamine-1 receptor with cetirizine does not reduce adverse events from FAEs.
• Histamine does not seem to play a pivotal role in the generation of gastrointestinal complaints and flushing during FAE treatment.

What's already known about this topic?

• Tumour necrosis factor-α has been shown to play a role in the pathogenesis of pemphigus vulgaris (PV).
• Case reports have shown infliximab (IFX) to be beneficial in the treatment of PV.

What does this study add?

• Treatment with IFX and prednisone was not significantly better than prednisone alone in treating patients with active PV.
• IFX therapy is associated with decreased autoantibodies and change in peripheral B-cell phenotypes.