Cosmetic expectations have increased with time and current trends speak volumes about gingival esthetics and smile designing. Gingival pigmentation especially on the labial aspect of anterior teeth has become an important component of general esthetics. Various physiologic and pathologic factors cause gingival pigmentation. The existing indices do not deal with the etiology, extent and severity...

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) has been shown to cause skin disorders, including sunburn and symptoms such as erythema, ageing formation of wrinkles, pigmentation or dyspigmentation, DNA damage ultimately photocarcinogenesis on prolonged exposure. It reported that sunscreens have beneficial effects in reducing the incidence disorders protect against exogenous endogenous harmful agents by absorptio...

introduction: dark or black coloured gingiva is an esthetic concern especially in subjects with high lip line or gummy smile. gingival depigmentation procedure is a type of perioplastic surgery where the gingival epithelium is excised with various techniques to lighten the colour of the gingiva. the aim of this study was to compare the clinical efficacy of gingival depigmentation procedure with...

It is extraordinarily difficult to recognize a face in an image with negated contrast, as in a photographic negative. The variation among faces can be partitioned into two general sources: (a) shape and (b) surface reflectance, here termed 'pigmentation'. To determine whether negation differentially affects the processing of shape or pigmentation, we made two sets of faces where the individual ...

Scleroderma may be one of the most severe forms of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). We retrospectively evaluated its incidence, predictor variables and outcome in 133 patients who survived at least 4 months after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The 5-year cumulative incidence was 15.5% in patients with chronic GVHD. The generalized form had a progressive course desp...

Skin whitening products are commercially available for cosmetic purposes in order to obtain a lighter skin appearance. They are also utilized for clinical treatment of pigmentary disorders such as melasma or postinflammatory hyperpigmentation. Whitening agents act at various levels of melanin production in the skin. Many of them are known as competitive inhibitors of tyrosinase, the key enzyme ...

Tyrosinase has been extensively utilized as a model substrate to study the maturation of glycoproteins in the mammalian secretory pathway. The visual nature of its enzymatic activity (melanin production) has facilitated the identification and characterization of the proteins that assist it becoming a functional enzyme, localized to its proper cellular location. Here, we review the steps involve...

Pigmentation is both the normal and abnormal discoloration of oral mucous membrane. Pigmentation has multifactorial etiology. Most of the pigmentation is physiologic but sometimes it can be a precursor of severe diseases. Melanin pigment irregularities and color changes of the oral tissues could provide significant diagnostic evidence of both local and systemic disease. The differential diagnos...

Melasma is a complex multifactorial disorder whose pathogenesis is not well understood. In addition to increased pigmentation, increased vascularity associated with pigmentation is present. A variety of topical treatments targeting pigmentation are available with temporary improvement of mainly the epidermal components of melasma. Intense pulsed light (IPL) is a broadband light source that can ...

Hair follicle cells have a high turnover. A caloric deprivation or deficiency of several components, such as proteins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and vitamins, caused by inborn errors or reduced uptake, can lead to structural abnormalities, pigmentation changes, or hair loss, although exact data are often lacking. The diagnosis is established through a careful history, clinical examinatio...