BACKGROUND: Arsenical keratosis is a precancerous dermatosis which could be induced by long-term exposure to arsenic poisoning. Arsenic is often added to traditional Chinese medicine in a non-compliant manner to increase the effectiveness of psoriasis treatment, which is often the main cause of arsenic poisoning in Chinese patients with psoriasis.
OBJECTIVE: We performed a systemic review of arsenic keratosis during the past 32 years to better understand the sources, treatment, and prognosis of arsenic keratosis in China.
METHODS: We searched Medline/PubMed, Embase, CNKI, and Wanfang databases for research studies published between 1992 and 2024. A total of 64 papers with 78 individual Chinese of arsenical keratosis were included in this analysis.
RESULTS: Of the patients included in the analysis, 92.21% of arsenic poisoning was due to iatrogenic factors: Chinese traditional medicine. Seventy-six patients (98.70%) had skin manifestation of hyperkeratotic papules and plaques, 68 patients (88.31%) had hyperpigmentation, 43 cases (55.84%) had hypopigmentation, and only 4 had a clear indication of Mees\' lines in nails. A total of 52.63% of patients presented with tumors, including squamous cell carcinoma, Bowen\'s disease, and basal cell carcinoma. For patients with tumors, 20 opted for surgery, 6 for radiotherapy, and 3 for PDT. All patients with only cutaneous tumors are currently well-controlled. Death occurred in one patient with metastatic squamous cell carcinoma. Keratinizing papules improved significantly in 70.59% of patients treated with Acitretin Capsules.
CONCLUSIONS: In this study, arsenic sources in Chinese patients were mainly from traditional Chinese medicine, and there were no reports of exposure to water sources or occupational sources in the past 32 years. Most of the patients showed keratinizing papules and pigmentation, and more than 1/2 of the patients showed skin tumors, mainly squamous cell carcinoma. The treatments of tumors are mainly surgical treatment, PDT and radiotherapy can also be selected. The improvement in keratinizing rash was greater than 70% with acitretin capsules. Patients with this disease should be regularly followed up for early detection and timely treatment of potential malignant tumors.

UNASSIGNED: Acitretin is a synthetic, second-generation retinoid mainly used for the treatment of Darier\'s disease (DD), which impacts biological processes by binding to a nuclear receptor from the corticosteroid/thyroid receptor superfamily, thereby altering gene expression. Our report outlines the case of a 41-year-old male patient who has received a clinical diagnosis of DD and does not exhibit any other coexisting comorbidities, who developed hypothyroidism posttreatment with acitretin, an unusual and rare side effect of the drug. His baseline routine investigations fell within normal limits before the initiation of acitretin. Acitretin-induced hypothyroidism was treated with thyroxine. Although a good therapeutic response was seen with acitretin, it could not be continued due to the development of side effects and was continued on topical therapy. This case emphasizes the likelihood of adverse effects linked to therapeutic levels of acitretin in patients without any prior history and signifies the critical importance of consistent blood monitoring throughout drug therapy.

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Pityriasis Rubra Pilaris is a rare, chronic inflammatory dermatosis of unknown etiology, presenting with erythema and papular eruptions. Treatment is difficult due to the lack of causal therapy, guidelines and requires an individualized approach. The most common treatments are systemic retinoids, immunosuppressants, phototherapy and biological therapy. This article presents the case of a 73-year-old man suffering from type 1 pityriasis rubra pilaris. The patient was initially treated with acitretin, which was discontinued due to hypogammaglobulinemia. This rare side effect of acitretin has not been previously published. As a second-line treatment, the patient received methotrexate, but with no clinical improvement after 3 months and an increase in skin pruritus. Finally, the use of isotretinoin resulted in significant clinical improvement and was well tolerated.

Mal De Meleda is a rare genetic disorder characterized by palmoplantar keratoderma, often presenting challenges in diagnosis and management. This case report discusses an 18-year-old male presenting with thickened, yellowish skin on both palms and soles, accompanied by itching and cracking. A diagnosis of the transgradiens variant of Mal De Meleda was established through clinical and histopathological examination. Treatment with oral acitretin and topical moisturizers resulted in significant improvement. This report highlights the importance of recognizing rare variants of palmoplantar keratoderma and the need for a multidisciplinary approach to diagnosis and management.

Acrokeratosis verruciformis of Hopf (AKVH) is a rare genetic skin condition associated with an ATP2A2 gene mutation, thus affecting keratinization. Classically, AKVH appears in childhood over acral sites as symmetrical, flat, verruca plana-like lesions with an autosomal dominant inheritance, while sporadic cases affect atypical sites in adulthood. As this entity can closely mimic other verrucous skin conditions, identifying characteristic histopathological changes is essential to make a diagnosis in the absence of genetic studies, especially in resource-poor countries. This is the first reported case of AKVH from North-East India clinically mimicking extensive verruca vulgaris in an adult with a possible sporadic occurrence. AKVH is usually difficult to treat and superficial ablation is the treatment of choice. However, this case highlights the role of cryotherapy with acitretin in the management of AKVH with a rapid response.

Acitretin is an oral retinoid with alopecia as a possible adverse effect. However, repigmentation of the hair color after acitretin is not a well-documented phenomenon. Herein, we introduce a case where a patient\'s hair color darkened after a course of acitretin.

Generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) is characterized by painful and occasionally disfiguring cutaneous manifestations with sepsis-like systemic symptoms, and is a rare severe variant of psoriasis. Currently, there is no standard treatment for GPP. Here, we report a case of a female patient with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and mild scalp psoriasis, who developed GPP and alopecia following three courses of adalimumab therapy. The patient\'s condition gradually improved following cessation of adalimumab and treatment with secukinumab and acitretin. After eight weeks of treatment, the patient achieved almost complete clearance of her psoriasis, her alopecia improved, and her AS was relieved. Therefore, we believe that a combination of secukinumab with acitretin may be a rational approach for the treatment of severe GPP.

Keratoacanthoma (KA) is a fast-growing skin tumor subtype that can be observed as a solitary lesion or rarely as multiple lesions in the context of rare genetic syndromes. Syndromes with multiple keratoacanthoma-like lesions have been documented as multiple self-healing squamous epithelioma (Ferguson-Smith syndrome), eruptive keratoacanthoma of Grzybowski, multiple familial keratoacanthoma of Witten and Zak Muir-Torre syndrome, and incontinentia pigmenti. The treatment approach of those entities is challenging due to the numerous lesions, the lesions\' undefined nature, and the co-existence of other malignant skin tumors. Herein, we report a case of a 40-year-old woman who developed multiple treatment-resistant Ferguson-Smith-like keratoacanthomas with a co-existing large and ulcerated invasive squamous cell carcinoma and microcystic adnexal carcinoma on the scalp. Multiple keratoacanthomas on her extremities were successfully treated with oral acitretin (0.5 mg/kg/day) in combination with topical Fluorouracil (5-FU) 5%, while excision and plastic surgery restoration were performed to treat the ulcerated cancer lesion on her scalp. Due to the interesting nature of this rare syndrome, we performed a literature review including case reports and case series on multiple-KA-like lesions syndromes and focusing on diagnosis and therapy approaches. We also conducted a comparison of patient reports, which included assessing the clinical appearance of the lesions and evaluating the success and progress or the failure of various treatment approaches that were implemented.

Grover\'s disease, also known as transient acantholytic dermatosis (TAD), currently has no published randomized control trials regarding the treatment of the disease; thus, evidence for treatment is largely derived from case studies and case reports. In this case series, we summarize the current treatment options for Grover\'s disease and discuss two cases of refractory Grover\'s disease treated with low-dose oral isotretinoin in patients who previously failed to reach clearance with multiple treatment options. Our aim is to highlight the efficacy of low-dose systemic retinoid therapy in Grover\'s disease when other treatment options prove unsatisfactory.