BACKGROUND Piercings are body embellishments commonly seen in young people, however their inherent risk of infection and scarring disorders are less divulged. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the prevalence of body piercings among medical students and their possible dermatologic consequences. METHODS Cross-sectional study with 58 medical students, by means of a structured questionnaire covering socio-...

An analysis of 382 patients, aged 12 and over, admitted to the infectious disease ward of Amin Hospital in Isfahan over a 20 year period with clinically diagnosed tetanus is reported. The study comprised 297 patients, 77.7% from rural areas and 85(22.3%) from the city of Isfahan. The male- female ratio for both groups was approximately 2:1. Rural patients were younger and showed a lower cr...

I n this issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics you can read a minisymposium on circumcision, mainly dealing with the circumcision of male children at an age where they cannot consent, but also touching upon issues of female genital mutilation. When reading the papers I found it strange, but of course not really surprising given its symbolic importance, that we are so worried about intervention...

Sir, Contact of the skin with metals can induce several types of cutaneous reactions, mainly eczematous skin lesions. However, the increasing tendency to use metallic implants in the skin, mainly by the young populations, is leading to the appearance of other types of cutaneous reactions that can be difficult to differentiate from other infectious and noninfectious cutaneous disorders. We repor...

Arthur W Perry, Michael Sosin Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY; Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ; Division of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Maxillofacial Surgery, Department of Surgery, R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland Medi...

BACKGROUND Lobular keloid appears to be a consequence of hypertrophic inflammation secondary to ear piercings performed under unsterile conditions. We wish to understand the pathogenesis of lobular keloids and report operative outcomes with a literature review. METHODS A retrospective review identified 40 cases of lobular keloids between January, 2005 and December, 2010. Patient records were ...