暂无摘要。

BACKGROUND: Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, recurrent, inflammatory skin disease involving the follicular unit. Growing evidence suggests a crucial role of hyperkeratosis, infundibular plugging and perifolliculitis in its pathogenesis.
OBJECTIVE: To characterize the microscopic morphology of open comedos using in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) and define alterations occurring in HS normal-appearing perilesional skin compared to healthy skin of a control group, discussing therefore microscopic differences.
METHODS: Twenty patients (11 males, 9 females; aged 19-51 years) affected by HS were recruited. RCM was performed on open comedos of axillary/inguinal regions and on normal-appearing skin areas distant at least 1.5 cm from HS lesions. Ten healthy individuals (6 males, 4 females) were included as control group.
RESULTS: RCM aspects of 78 open comedos were explored, observing circular/ovoidal structures disclosing a hyperrefractive amorphous material (72/78, 92.3%) within the infundibular cavity surrounded with a bright (51/78, 65.4%) and regular (52/78, 66.2%) border. Follicular ostia of HS perilesional skin (n = 541) compared to follicular ostia of a control group (n = 321) were characterized by a larger infundibular diameter (183.4 vs. 85.8 µm) and diverged in terms of material collected inside infundibula (44.5 vs. 21%) and keratinization of the border (47.6 vs. 25.5%).
CONCLUSIONS: In vivo characterization of open comedos and the recognition of microscopic subclinical alterations of HS normal-appearing skin, compared to healthy skin, could add further insights into the definition of biological events leading to HS manifestations, including the dysregulated process of keratinization.

The latest innovation to hair restoration surgery has been the introduction of a robotic system for harvesting grafts. This system uses the follicular unit extraction/follicular isolation technique method for harvesting follicular units, which is particularly well suited to the abilities of a robotic technology. The ARTAS system analyzes images of the donor area and then a dual-chamber needle and blunt dissecting punch are used to harvest the follicular units. The robotic technology is now being used in various locations around the world. This article discusses the use of the robotic system, its capabilities, and the advantages and disadvantages of the system.