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Outcomes of nurse-led cryotherapy treatment for viral warts

Dear Editor,  Cryotherapy is a cost-effective treatment that can be performed by non-dermatologists for viral warts, which are very common.1,2 The National University Hospital, Singapore...

Managing and preventing severe hand injuries among sugarcane juicer operators

Dear Editor, Of all hand injuries encountered at an emergency department, 54% are sustained in the workplace,1 in part contributed by occupational injuries among food...

Evaluation of a return to work coordination programme for injured workers in a public hospital in Singapore

Workers who have sustained an injury at work often face difficulties returning to work, according to a study showing that over 40% of injured workers...

Eosinophilic esophagitis and immunoglobulin E-mediated food allergy

Dear Editor, Food allergy (FA) is an adverse reaction to a specific food antigen—normally harmless to the healthy population—which is mediated by immunological mechanisms and...

Rash characteristics of paediatric patients with COVID-19 in Singapore

Dear Editor, Children with COVID-19 infection can present with a variable spectrum of clinical manifestations, and sometimes mucocutaneous manifestations can be the only manifestation of...

Preventing recurrent hypersensitivity reactions to iodinated contrast media

Iodinated contrast media (ICM) is one of the most commonly used drugs in the practice of modern medicine. ICM, as the name implies, is...

Lichen planus pemphigoides after pembrolizumab immunotherapy in an older man

An 84-year-old Chinese man with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer was initiated on pembrolizumab, an anti-programmed cell death (PD)-1 monoclonal antibody, 4 times...

Drug interactions between common dermatological medications and the oral anti-COVID-19 agents nirmatrelvir-ritonavir and molnupiravir

In December 2021, an Emergency Use Authorisation was issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the use of the orally active...

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacogenomic considerations in managing use of nirmatrelvir-ritonavir and molnupiravir and dermatological treatments

The COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented in its impact on global health, economic, financial, psychosocial and political systems. The World Health Organization estimates approximately...

A man with bark-like skin

A 65-year-old Chinese man was admitted for evaluation of chronic anaemia. He had a history of hypertension and chronic kidney disease, and his regular...

TB or not TB? The axillary lump question

An 81-year-old woman of healthy weight presented with a 2-week history of a painless right axillary lump. Physical examination revealed a 2cm firm nodule...

Change in hepatitis B virus DNA status in patients receiving chronic immunosuppressive therapy for moderate-to-severe skin disease

Dear Editor, Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection poses a global health burden. Clinically, patients may present with chronic HBV infection, occult HBV infection, and fulminant...

Cutaneous Polyarteritis Nodosa: A Case Report and Literature Review

Cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa (CPN) is an uncommon form of vasculitis of the small-and medium-sized arteries in the reticular dermis and subcutaneous tissue. It remains...

Sezary Syndrome: A Case Report and a Review of the Molecular Pathomechanism and Management

Our patient is a 64-year-old Malay man who first presented in July 1993 with a history of rash starting on the hands 1½ years...

A Case Report of Neutrophilic Eccrine Hidradenitis in a Patient Receiving Chemotherapy for Acute Myeloid Leukaemia

Neutrophilic eccrine hidradenitis (NEH) is a neutrophilic dermatosis primarily affecting the eccrine glands and occurs most commonly in patients undergoing chemotherapy for a malignancy. This...

Radiotherapy as Local Adjuvant Treatment for Endometrial Carcinoma—A Review of 45 Patients

Radiotherapy as an adjunct to surgery has long been used in the management of endometrial carcinoma with the intent to improve local tumour control...

Rosai-Dorfman Disease with Primary Cutaneous Manifestations—A Case Report

In 1969, Rosai and Dorfman first described a newly recognised benign systemic histioproliferative disease characterised clinically by bilateral striking cervical lymphadenopathy, fever, leukocytosis, and...

Bullous Dermatomyositis Associated with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma —A Case Report

Bullous dermatomyositis is a rare variant of dermatomyositis and has been reported in the literature. It is believed to be strongly associated with the...

Case Reports of Linear IgA Bullous Dermatosis of Childhood

Linear IgA bullous dermatosis of childhood (LADC) is an acquired subepidermal blistering disorder of young children which is characterised by the unique finding of...

Atypical Mycobacterium Infection with Sporotrichoid Spread in a Patient with Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Mycobacteria other than tubercle bacilli (MOTT) were shown to be agents of human disease in the 1950s. They are also known as atypical, environmental...

One-year Review of Pityriasis Rosea at the National Skin Centre, Singapore

Pityriasis rosea is a common, self-limited disorder of unknown but suspected viral aetiology, that develops abruptly with few or no prodromal symptoms. Classically, the...

Repigmentation of Vitiligo with Autologous Blister-induced Epidermal Grafts

Treatment of vitiligo can sometimes be difficult and disappointing. Medical treatment includes topical or systemic steroids and psoralen with ultraviolet A light (PUVA). This article...

Eccrine Porocarcinoma: A Case Report

Porocarcinoma is a rare malignant tumour, arising from the intra-epidermal ductal portion of the eccrine sweat gland, also known as “acrosyringium”.’ According to the...

Retrospective Study of Behcet’s Disease seen at the National Skin Centre, Singapore

Behcet’s disease, first described by a Turkish dermatologist, Dr Hulusi Behcet, is a multisystem inflammatory disorder of unknown aetiology. The diagnosis of Behcet’s disease...

Acute Mercury Vapour Poisoning in a Shipyard Worker—A Case Report

Despite improvements in industrial working conditions, mercury remains second only to lead as a cause of heavy metal poisoning. Cases of poisoning by inhaled...

Use of Ligase Chain Reaction and Polymerase Chain Reaction on Urine Specimens to Detect Chlamydia trachomatis Infections in a Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinic in Singapore

Infections caused by Chlamydia trachomatis are amongst the most common bacterial sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the world, causing substantial morbidity in young sexually-active...

A Case Report: Persistent Acantholytic Dermatosis in Chronic Renal Failure

A 70-year-old Chinese man with end-stage renal failure (ESRF), who has been on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis for 6 months, was referred by the...

Squamous Cell Carcinoma arising in a Cutaneous Epidermal Cyst—A Case Report

Epidermal cysts are common benign subcutaneous lesions. Malignant transformation in epidermal cysts is a rare but recognised occurrence. This article is available only as a...

Granuloma Annulare: A Review of 41 Cases at the National Skin Centre

Granuloma annulare (GA) is a benign, inflammatory disorder of the skin that has no proven aetiology or widely accepted theory of pathogenesis. There are...

A Case Report of Erythema Induratum of Bazin’s Disease

There are many dermatological manifestations of tuberculosis, ranging from distinct entities such as tuberculosis verrucosa cutis, lupus vulgaris, scrofuloderma, to tuberculides. The term tuberculide...

Re: One-year Review of Pityriasis Rosea at the National Skin Centre, Singapore

I refer to a paper published in the Annals Vol. 28 No. 6 November 1999 titled “One-year review of pityriasis rosea at the National...

Treatment of Chronic Urticaria with Thyroxine in an Euthyroid Patient with Thyroglobulin and Microsomal Antibodies

Chronic urticaria is defined as daily outbreaks of urticaria of at least 6 weeks duration. Despite being a common disorder, the cause of chronic...

Hard Metal Lung Disease—The First Case in Singapore

A 38-year-old Chinese man and lifetime non-smoker, who had previously been well, was referred for investigation of bilateral reticulonodular infiltrates noted on his chest...

An Unusual Case of Cutaneous Vasculitis

A 49-year-old Chinese man presented at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital with painful gangrene of the right second and left third and fourth toes...

Classical and Amyopathic Dermatomyositis seen at the National Skin Centre of Singapore: A 3-year Retrospective Review of their Clinical Characteristics and Association with Malignancy

Polymyositis/dermatomyositis is a connective tissue disorder with inflammatory muscle disease resulting in muscle weakness. When there is only muscle involvement, the term polymyositis is...

Neonatal Lupus Erythematosus: Our Local Experience

Neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE) is related to the transplacental passage of anti-Ro antibodies from mother to foetus. The commonest manifestations involve the skin and...

Lichen Amyloidosus: A Bullous Variant

Systemic amyloidosis, first reported in 1886, is characterised by deposits of amyloid in various organs including the skin, which may manifest as skin purpura,...

Sharps and Needlestick Injuries: The Impact of Hepatitis B Vaccination as an Intervention Measure

Sharps/needlestick injuries are a common occupational hazard among healthcare workers (HCWs). It is an issue of major infection control concern as it carries with...

Systemic antibiotic prophylaxis for recurrent infective flares in children and adolescents with atopic dermatitis

Dear Editor, Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease, affecting approximately 20% of children in Singapore.1 It is associated with skin barrier defects2...

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Presenting with Chronic Actinic Dermatitis: A Case Report

A 40-year-old Chinese man of skin phototype III (Table I), formerly a welder in a shipyard, presented with pruritic papules on his face, neck...

Clinical Update on Occupational Asthma

Occupational asthma is the most common occupational respiratory disease in the United Kingdom and also in Singapore. Recent estimates of the proportion of adult...

Exposure of Airline Pilots and Cabin Crew to Cosmic Radiation During Flight—What’s the Fuss?

The possible health effects of increased exposure of aviators to cosmic rays at altitude have been a source of concern for some time, although...

Electromagnetic Fields and Health Outcomes

Over the past two decades, there has been increasing interest in the biological effects and possible health outcomes of weak, low-frequency electric and magnetic...

The Paget-Schroetter Syndrome: Work Accident and Occupational Disease

Concerning patients with thrombosis of the upper extremity, you can find only a small number of case studies regarding the question of assessment in...

Vascular Changes in Workers Exposed to Carbon Disulfide

Carbon disulfide (CS<sub>2</sub>) is an organic solvent which is used all over the world in the production of viscose rayon fibres. A large number...

Multifactorial Aetiology of Lung Cancer Among Silica-exposed Workers

The earliest reports of a wasting disease among miners date back in the 1500s, with the description by Paracelsus and Agricola of the so-called...

N-acetyltransferase 2 Phenotype in Painters with Bladder Cancer and Controls

In 1989, the International Agency for Research on Cancer acknowledged “painting” as an occupation that definitely causes cancer. Lung cancer was most strongly associated...

Helicobacter pylori Infection: Epidemiology and Occupational Risk for Health Care Workers

Since Warren and Marshall successfully cultured Helicobacter pylori in 1983, it has been recognised as a major cause of several gastroduodenal diseases, including gastric...

Genes, Work and Health

Occupational health has been aptly described as a two-way relationship between work and health. This has served as a useful model emphasizing that workplace...

Malignant Melanoma Seen in a Tertiary Dermatological Centre, Singapore

Unlike in Caucasians, primary malignant melanoma is an uncommon skin malignancy in Singapore. There have been little published data on cutaneous melanoma in Southeast...

A Retrospective Study of Incontinentia Pigmenti Seen at the National Skin Centre, Singapore Over a 10-year period

Incontinentia pigmenti, called Bloch-Sulzberger syndrome, is a rare X-linked dominant disorder involving ectodermal structures. It is a multisystem disorder with cutaneous, ocular, dental, cerebral...

Renal Dysfunction in Workers Exposed to Inorganic Lead

Chronic lead exposure causes progressive nephropathy that eventually results in renal failure. Known as chronic lead nephropathy, this disease has been recognised since the...

A Retrospective Study of Melanocytic Naevi at the National Skin Centre

Melanocytic naevi are benign proliferation of melanocytes of congenital and acquired types which usually appear during adolescence or early adult life. Naevi are of...

Antibiotic Sensitivity of Propionibacterium acnes Isolates from Patients with Acne Vulgaris in a Tertiary Dermatological Referral Centre in Singapore

In Southeast Asia, there have been few studies on the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of Propionibacterium acnes on the skin of patients with acne...

Clinical Utility of Polymerase Chain Reaction in the Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Different Types of Cutaneous Tuberculosis and Tuberculids

Laboratory confirmation of cutaneous tuberculosis has remained difficult using conventional techniques which include the demonstration of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) on histopathologic examination and culture....

A Retrospective Study on the Characteristics of Androgenetic Alopecia among Asian Races in the National Skin Centre, a Tertiary Dermatological Referral Centre in Singapore

Androgenetic alopecia is hair thinning or balding due to the influence of androgens in males and females. Androgenetic alopecia is reported to affect 50%...

Early Unplanned Readmission of Elderly in Singapore: A Retrospective Study

The number of elderly people in Singapore is expected to increase over the next 2 decades. The proportion of those 60 years and above...

A Review of Cutaneous Granulomas and Lupus Vulgaris Following BCG Vaccination in a Skin Hospital in Singapore

BCG vaccines are live vaccines derived from a strain of Mycobacterium bovis that was attenuated by Calmette and Guerin at the Pasteur Institute in...

Book Review

Having ‘grown-up’ on occupational medicine practice textbooks traditionally written by European and American counterparts, I was pleasantly surprised to pick up a new book...

Problems Related to Epidural Analgesia for Postoperative Pain Control

Epidural analgesia has been shown to provide excellent pain relief following thoracotomy, abdominal and other surgery. Studies have shown improvement in specific variables with...

The Epidemiology and Treatment of Anogenital Warts in Singapore: A Retrospective Evaluation

Anogenital warts are caused by specific subtypes of the human papillomavirus (HPV), of which serotypes HPV 6 and 11 are the most common. There...

Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the Older Population in Singapore

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in persons older than 50 years are rarely studied because STDs are more common in young people. There is very...

Allopurinol Hypersensitivity Syndrome and Acute Myocardial Infarction—Two Case Reports

Allopurinol hypersensitivity syndrome is an idiosyncratic drug reaction characterised by an acute and severe multiorgan disease. It usually begins 2 to 6 weeks (up...

Bullous Pemphigoid Seen at the National Skin Centre: A 2-year Retrospective Review

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune subepidermal blistering disorder affecting mainly the elderly. It is characterised by autoantibodies to the basement membrane zone (BMZ),...

Clinical Profile and Treatment Outcome of Livedoid Vasculitis: A Case Series

Livedoid vasculitis is a clinicopathological entity that has variously been referred to as atrophie blanche, livedoid vasculopathy or segmental hyalinising vasculitis. It presents with...

A Case of Penicillamine-induced Dermopathy

D-penicillamine is a copper chelator used primarily in Wilson’s disease and cystinuria. Other long-term indications include rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma and primary biliary cirrhosis. This article...

Sweet’s Syndrome Associated with Mycobacterium chelonae and Herpes Simplex Virus Infections: A Case Report

Sweet’s syndrome is an acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis. An association with malignancy is well recognised. This article is available only as a PDF. Please click...

Malignant Mesothelioma: Experience at the Singapore General Hospital

Malignant mesothelioma is a rare tumour and is typically associated with asbestos exposure. In endemic areas, it has an estimated incidence as high as...

An intensely pruritic disseminated skin eruption

A 64-year-old man presented to the dermatology outpatient clinic with a 4-month history of pruritic papules. He had a significant medical history of thyrotoxicosis,...

Patterns and predictors of sound levels in hospital rooms

Dear Editor,      Excessive sound levels in the hospital can impair the work performance of healthcare professionals and affect patient well-being.1 Previous studies have also...

Novel transdermal device for delivery of triamcinolone for nail psoriasis treatment

Psoriasis is a chronic immune mediated inflammatory skin condition that affects about 2–4% of the Western populations, with rising incidence over the years.1,2 The...

Oral Pemphigus Vulgaris: A Case Report and Literature Update

Autoimmune blistering conditions are an uncommon cause of chronic ulceration of the oral mucosa. Nevertheless, it is important to diagnose these conditions early and...

Melanocytic Lesions of the Face: Diagnostic Pitfalls

Cutaneous melanocytic lesions are amongst the commonest tumours in all races but are more common in Caucasians with fair skin. Although most are benign...

A Case of Recurrent Erythema Multiforme and its Therapeutic Complications

Recurrent erythema multiforme (EM) is a disabling condition with a specific diagnosis and certain diagnostic criteria. Systemic corticosteroid therapy is frequently used to treat...

A Review: The Location, Molecular Characterisation and Multipotency of Hair Follicle Epidermal Stem Cells

There have been significant advances in the understanding of keratinocyte stem cells since the 1970s, when the concept of interfollicular epidermis was initially proposed;...

The Role of Public Health and Occupational Physicians in the New Millennium

I want to thank the Chapter and organisers for honouring me with this kind invitation to speak to you. This millennium is only 4...

Serum Interleukin-2, Interleukin-6, Tumour Necrosis Factor-Alpha and Nitric Oxide Levels in Patients With Behçet’s Disease

Behçet’s disease (BD) is characterised by oral aphthous lesions, genital ulcerations and eye inflammation. The disease was first described by Hulusi Behçet in 1937....

Cutaneous Mycobacterium haemophilum Infections in Immunocompromised Patients in a Dermatology Clinic in Singapore

Mycobacterium haemophilum is a nontuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) that is increasingly recognised as a cause of cutaneous, joint, or pulmonary infections in immunocompromised patients and...

A Case of Nephrogenic Fibrosing Dermopathy

Nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy (NFD) is a recently described and recognised fibrosing disorder occurring in patients with renal disease. The condition resembles scleromyxoedema clinically and...

Dapsone Hypersensitivity Syndrome Masquerading as a Viral Exanthem: Three Cases and a Mini-Review

Dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome (DHS) is a rare condition mostly occurring in leprosy patients on multidrug therapy. Dapsone is also combined with pyrimethamine as maloprim...

Cyclosporin in the Treatment of Severe Atopic Dermatitis: A Retrospective Study

Cyclosporin is a potent immunosuppressant that inhibits cell-mediated immunity, mainly via inhibition of T helper cells. It has been used successfully in the treatment...

Salivary Immunoglobulin A and Lysozyme in Patients with Psoriasis

The pathophysiological mechanisms in psoriasis are still unclear. Many factors, such as infection, trauma and stress, could cause psoriasis. This article is available only as...

Lymphomatoid Papulosis Associated with Recurrent Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma

Lymphomatoid papulosis is a self-healing recurrent popular eruption often exhibiting a chronic course. It is associated with malignant lymphomas in 10% to 20% of...

Extensive Calcinosis Cutis in Relapsed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia

Calcinosis cutis is characterised by the aberrant deposition of calcium salts in the skin. In metastatic calcinosis cutis, calcium salts are precipitated in normal...

Delusional Parasitosis: Case Series of 8 Patients and Review of the Literature

Delusional parasitosis (DP), or delusional infestation, is a condition in which a person has the unshakeable and mistaken belief of being infested with parasites....

Laser Doppler Perfusion Imaging (LDPI) and Transepidermal Water Loss (TEWL) Values in Psoriatic Lesions Treated with Narrow Band UVB Phototherapy. Dermal Vascularity may be useful Indicator of Psoriatic Activity

Non-invasive techniques have become useful procedures in measuring skin physiology and skin response to treatment. This study attempts to objectively measure physiological changes in...

Familial Risk of Allergic Rhinitis and Atopic Dermatitis among Chinese Families in Singapore

Family history has been shown to be a risk factor for the development of allergic rhinitis (AR) and atopic dermatitis (AD). However, the increase...

Comparison of Completely versus Incompletely Excised Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinomas

Non-melanoma skin cancer is the most common skin cancer worldwide and its incidence has risen in the last few decades. Approximately 80% of non-melanoma...

Viral Warts in Children Seen at a Tertiary Referral Centre

Viral warts are a common affliction in children. It is caused by the human papilloma virus, of which there are more than 80 serotypes. This...

Presumed Dapsone-induced Drug Hypersensitivity Syndrome Causing Reversible Hypersensitivity Myocarditis and Thyrotoxicosis

A 22-year-old Malay soldier doing his National Service was warded with a 6-day history of an itchy generalised rash associated with fever and lymphadenopathy....

A Study on the Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Southeast Asian Dermatologists in the Management of Atopic Dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic and pruritic inflammatory skin disorder that occurs worldwide. Several guidelines on the management of AD have been published...

Delayed Hypersensitivity Reaction After Intravenous Glucagon Administered for a Barium Enema: A Case Report

A 74-year-old Chinese woman presented with a 1-week history of an itchy rash on the trunk and legs. A barium enema was performed a...

Electrocardiographic Changes in Patients with Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Treated with Systemic Glucantime

Antimonial compounds are regarded as the treatment of choice for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). The efficacy of sodium stibogluconate (pentostam) and the other compound of...

Rehabilitation Medicine

I congratulate Dr Kong Keng He and his fellow authors on their excellent special edition on Rehabilitation Medicine and the Rehabilitation Physician published last...

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Mimicking Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic infection caused by different species of the obligate intracellular protozoa Leishmania. This disease is transmitted through the bite of an...

The Tao of Bao: A Randomised Controlled Trial Examining the Effect of Steamed Bun Consumption on Night-Call Inpatient Course and Mortality

The modern world remains full of superstition. Often, despite their better judgement, intelligent rational people adopt rituals and strategies to cope with anxiety and...

Bridging the Gap between Occupational Medicine and Family Medicine

A significant similarity between family medicine and occupational medicine (OM) is the focus on disease prevention and health promotion. Family medicine aims for primary...

A Comparative Study of Polymerase Chain Reaction Detection of Clonal T-cell Receptor Gamma Chain Gene Rearrangements Using Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis versus Fluorescence Capillary Electrophoresis

Cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCL) are a heterogeneous group of malignancies of skin-homing T-cells, of which mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common form. CTCL...

A History of the Chapter of Public Health and Occupational Physicians

The history of the Chapter of Public Health and Occupational Physicians began with the founding of the Academy of Medicine in 1957. It was...

Mohs micrographic surgery in Singapore: A long-term follow-up review

Dear Editor, Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) has become the treatment of choice for high-risk non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC) worldwide.1 Unlike wide local excision, MMS...

Lamotrigine-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis in Singapore: A case series

Dear Editor, With the advancements in pharmacogenetics, potential genetic associations with severe cutaneous adverse drug reactions (SCAR)—which include Stevens- Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic...

Cutaneous Angiosarcoma Associated with the Kasabach–Merritt Syndrome

Angiosarcoma is a rare tumour commonly affecting elderly men, usually occurring on the head and neck region. The tumour usually presents as ecchymosis-like plaques,...

Major Workplace Related Accidents in Singapore: A Major Trauma Centre’s Experience

Workplace related accidents are major problems around the world and in Singapore. The Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United States reported a total of 5702...

Epidemiology of Skin Diseases in Renal Transplant Recipients in a Tertiary Hospital

Various types of skin lesions are more common in renal transplant recipients compared to the general population, mainly attributable to post-transplant immunosuppression. The well-documented...

Bosentan – A Previously Unrecognised Cause of Facial Telangiectasia

Bosentan is an endothelin-1 (ET-1) receptor antagonist approved for the treatment of pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH). Although flushing is a documented side effect of...

Blistering Eruption Following a Rubefacient Rub for Shoulder Discomfort

A 96-year-old woman was referred as an emergency with a suspected allergic reaction to Deep Heat® rub (Mentholatum Company Ltd, East Kilbride, Scotland). Five...

An 11-year Review of Dermatomyositis in Asian Patients

Dermatomyositis (DM) is an acquired multisystem inflammatory disease with prominent, characteristic cutaneous manifestations and proximal muscle myopathy. A clinically distinct amyopathic variant with typical...

An Exanthem with An Annular Pattern in a 2-year-old Girl

A 2-year-old Chinese girl was seen in clinic with an erythematous annular itchy rash which began on the thighs and had spread to the...

Levofloxacin-induced Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis Treated with Intravenous Immunoglobulin

Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN) is a rare, fulminating rash with a mortality rate of 35%.1 It is predominantly medication-induced; allopurinol, ampicillins, anticonvulsants and non-steroidal...

Personalised Medicine for Psoriasis: A Real Possibility Ahead

In the last decade, our understanding of psoriasis has increased by leaps and bounds, resulting in many new targeted therapies being introduced for those...

Erythematous Plaques in a Filipino Man

Three years after emigrating from Philippines to Singapore, a 34-year-old, otherwise healthy man presented with a progressive erythematous eruption on his lower limbs. Six...

Inflammatory Tinea Capitis: Non-healing Plaque on the Occiput of a 4-year-old Child

Tinea capitis is a fungal infection of the hairs of the scalp. Although commonly described in children, it is uncommonly seen in Singapore. This article...

Subungual Nodule of the Right Fourth Finger

A 14-year-old, otherwise healthy boy presented with a skin nodule for the past 3 years which slowly lifted up the right fourth fingernail. The...

Chronic Truncal Plaques and Palmoplantar Keratotic Lesions in an Elderly Man

A 70-year-old gentleman with a significant past history of using traditional medication presented to our clinic with multiple dysplastic lesions of varying severity on...

Neonatal and Paediatric Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) in a Single Asian Tertiary Centre

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a cardiopulmonary bypass technique (CPB) introduced by Bartlett in 1972, which provides life-saving support in patients with refractory yet...

Lower limb nodules

A 45-year-old Chinese woman with no medical history or regular medications presented with painful nodules on her left shin that progressed to involve her...

Dermatological Disorders at the Emergency Department of a Tertiary Hospital in Singapore

Skin disorders pose a frequent diagnostic challenge for emergency physicians due to their broad spectrum and varied clinical manifestations. The diagnosis of acute dermatologic...

A Review of Back Injury Cases Notified to the Ministry of Manpower from 2011 to 2012

Work-related low back disorders consist of both low back pain (LBP) and low back injuries. They are a significant and increasing problem all over...

Pyoderma Gangrenosum Mimicking Early Acute Infection Following Total Knee Arthroplasty

Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is an ulcerative neutrophilic dermatosis of uncertain aetiology. Known associations include inflammatory bowel disease, myeloproliferative disease and various arthritides. There have...

Prevalence of Chronic Mental and Physical Disorders, Impact on Work Productivity and Correlates of Alcohol Use Disorders and Nicotine Dependence across Occupations

Singapore is an island city-state in Southeast Asia with a multi-ethnic population comprising 74.2% Chinese, 13.4% Malays, 9.2% Indians, and the rest belonging to...

Anti-BP180 NC16A IgG Titres as an Indicator of Disease Activity and Outcome in Asian Patients with Bullous Pemphigoid

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is a subepidermal blistering dermatosis characterised by circulating autoantibodies targeting BP180 and BP230 hemidesmosomal proteins. Anti-BP180 NC16A IgG antibodies have been...

Localised Dermatitic Nodules but No Itch

In 1909, Hyde first described nodular prurigo as pruritic nodules on the extensor surfaces of the lower extremities in middle-aged women. Thus, nodular prurigo...

Health-seeking behaviour of foreign workers in Singapore: Insights from emergency department visits

Singapore employs a large foreign worker (FW) population, defined as non-Singapore citizens and non-permanent residents working locally. Holders of “work permit” (WP), the work...

Acquired hypohidrosis following a drug reaction

A 44-year-old Chinese man presented with a 3-week history of heat intolerance and a reduced ability to sweat even upon strenuous physical exertion. His...

Primary cutaneous umbilical melanoma

A 59-year-old woman with a pre-existing asymptomatic pigmented nevus on the umbilicus for the past 20 years was seen in the outpatient dermatology clinic...

A clinico-pathological approach to management of atopic dermatitis

Recent research in atopic dermatitis (AD) has identified it to be a heterogeneous inflammatory skin disorder of different endotypes (immune polarisation of T-cell subsets...