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Eccrine syringofibroadenoma is a rare benign neoplasm with differentiation towards eccrine ducts. Its recognition depends on the histopathological examination; it is to be differentiated mainly from fibroepithelial basal cell carcinoma. Two new cases which occurred in a 70-year-old woman and a 39-year-old woman are presented. Clinically the two neoplasms were each a solitary hyperkeratotic, partially oozing nodule. On microscopic examination they both showed proliferation of small neoplastic cells in a reticular pattern; immature or mature eccrine ductal structures were seen within them. The neoplastic cells in the two cases differed in their content of PAS-positive glycogen.

We report on a patient with AIDS who developed erythema nodosum, an association that has not previously been reported. Extensive clinical and laboratory investigations disclosed no obvious origin of erythema nodosum apart from HIV infection with disseminated Kaposi sarcoma.

Cutaneous depigmentation due to adhesive plaster was observed in four patients. It occurred after an eczematous reaction, was irreversible and strictly limited to the contact area. There is evidence that the depigmentation was induced, at least in two patients, by the polyvinyl/rubber-plastic sheet of the adhesive plaster. Patch tests and animal experiments did not permit to identify the depigmenting component or contaminant of the plastic sheet. Light- and electron microscopy showed a complete disappearance of the epidermal melanocytes in the depigmented skin. During the first year after damage, they were mostly replaced by indeterminate cells. Later on the predominant basal non-keratinocytes of the epidermis were Langerhans cells.

The treatment of vitiligo is still unsatisfactory in many patients. The only two methods that have been evaluated in numerous patients are classic psoralen-light therapy and local treatment with potent fluorinated corticosteroids. These two methods in addition to some more recent therapies that have still been insufficiently investigated are reviewed in light of the data in the newer literature.

A 77-year-old patient with diabetes and progressive renal failure suffered from severe pruritus accompanied by umbilicated, keratotic papules corresponding clinically and histologically to reactive perforating collagenosis. UV-B light therapy considerably improved the pruritus and the skin lesions.

This review considers the following melanocytic and nevocytic nevi: nevus spilus, cellular blue nevus, benign juvenile melanoma, mongolian spot and nevus of Ota. Clinical aspects, histopathology and prognosis are outlined, based on data from the recent literature.

The cytochemical expression of epidermal peroxidase and cytochrome oxidase activity was recently well documented in normal human skin. We report here its expression in basal and squamous cell carcinomas, actinic keratoses, psoriasis, allergic contact dermatitis, seborrheic keratoses, and autosomal dominant ichthyosis vulgaris. The two enzyme activities were evaluated using the diaminobenzidine method. If present, the two enzymes were always localized in the same organelles as in normal epidermis: endogenous peroxidase in the nuclear envelope and endoplasmic reticulum, and cytochrome oxidase in mitochondria. In basal and squamous carcinomas, actinic keratoses and psoriasis, the keratinocytes lost their peroxidase activity, but maintained their cytochrome oxidase activity. In seborrheic keratoses, allergic contact dermatitis and ichthyosis vulgaris, the cytochrome oxidase activity was greatly reduced or abolished in keratinocytes, Langerhans' cells, and melanocytes, whereas the peroxidase activity was present as in normal epidermis. These results indicate that the two peroxidatic enzymes studied are not interrelated and alternatively suppressed by different cellular dysfunctions.