Asja Prohic

Sarajevo School of Science and Technology · Department of Dermatovenerology

The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and aetiological agents of tinea capitis in Sarajevo area, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during a 10-year period (1997-2006). A total of 707 patients with suspected dermatophyte infections of scalp was analysed. Tinea capitis was determined in 241 (34.1%) of these patients, in whom causative agents wer...

Pityriasis versicolor (PV) is a superficial fungal infection where Malassezia species play a definite causative role, but the clinical significance of each of these species is not fully understood. The aim of our study was to analyse the prevalence of Malassezia species in PV lesions and to examine if the range of species varies with patient sex, a...

The role of Malassezia species in psoriasis is still undetermined, but several reports have associated these lipophilic yeasts with the development of skin lesions in psoriasis. The aim of our study was to analyze the prevalence of Malassezia species in the scalp lesions of patients with psoriasis and assess the distribution of the species accordin...

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune form of non‐scarring hair loss. It is usually characterized by limited areas of hair loss. However, the disease may progress to complete scalp and body hair loss (alopecia totalis , alopecia universalis ). In patients with alopecia areata hair loss significantly impacts the quality of life. Children and adolescents...

Malassezia is a lipophilic yeast that is a part of the human mycobiome. Malassezia folliculitis appears when the benign colonization of the hair follicles, by the Malassezia yeasts, becomes symptomatic with pruritic papules and pustules. Although Malassezia folliculitis is common in hospital departments, diagnosing and treating it varies among derm...

Fungal infections or mycoses can cause a wide range of diseases in humans and animals. Common fungal skin infections are caused by dermatophytes (dermatophytoses) or yeasts (candidiasis or candidosis). Dermatophyte infections are common worldwide, and dermatophytes are the prevailing causes of fungal infection of the skin, hair, and nails. These in...

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterised by eczematous skin lesions and intense pruritus. It is often associated with other atopic diseases such as allergic rhinitis and conjunctivitis, bronchial asthma and eosinophilic oesophagitis. Dupilumab is the first biologic approved for the treatment of moderate-to-severe atopi...

Erythema ab igne (EAI) is a localized, hyperpigmented and reticulated dermatosis at sites of chronic heat exposure. Within longstanding skin lesions of EAI, hyperkeratotic lesions may emerge and can potentially transform into pre-malignant or malignant skin lesions. A 55-year-old woman presented for the evaluation of multiple hyperkeratotic lesions...

Background Dermatophytosis is a world‐wide distributed common infection. Antifungal drug resistance in dermatophytosis used to be rare, but unfortunately the current Indian epidemic of atypical widespread recalcitrant and terbinafine‐resistant dermatophytosis is spreading and has sporadically been reported in Europe. Objectives To explore the occu...

A 66-year-old man presented with a non-healing, eroded plaque involving the bottom of a toe on the left foot, which started 6 years ago.

A 40-year old female presented with a 3-month history of multiple, blue-grayish, thickly clustered, 1–3 mm in diameter macules increasing progressively in number and involving almost the whole left pectoral region. She revealed color change of a preexisting nevus on left areola, from light brown into black over the past two years (Fig. 15.1).

A 74-year-old female patient presented to our clinic for dark brown irregular pigmented plaque in the area of the right eyelid margin. She gave history of a light brown macula in the same location since her young age. Over time, the lesion increased slightly and during the last year she reported progressive growth and color variegation.

A six-year boy presented to our department with hypopigmented lesions symmetrically distributed on the lateral portion of the neck, retroauricullary, and to a lesser extent on the lateral face (Fig. 20.1). He had a history of slow onset lesions of 6 months, without pruritus.

Introduction Sister Mary Joseph Nodule (SMJN) is a metastatic umbilical lesion secondary to a primary malignancy of any viscera, stomach and colon being most common in men, and ovary in women. Case report In this article, we present the case of SMJN in a 54-year old female patient. An urgent diagnostic workup was performed with a computerized tomo...

There are differences with respect to the commonly isolated Malassezia species, not only between healthy individuals and the patients with various skin diseases, but also between different countries. We investigated the species composition of Malassezia microflora on the skin of patients with Malassezia-associated diseases and of healthy subjects (...

The genus Malassezia comprises lipophilic species, the natural habitat of which is the skin of humans and other warm-blooded animals. However, these species have been associated with a diversity of dermatological disorders and even systemic infections. Pityriasis versicolor is the only cutaneous disease etiologically connected to Malassezia yeasts....

There are limited numbers of studies which focused on the identification of Malassezia yeasts to a species level in onychomycosis. Therefore, the aim of our study was to determine the prevalence and species composition of Malassezia yeasts in patients with clinically suspected onychomycosis and to examine if the range of species varies with patient...

Aim To determine the incidence and etiological agents of dermatophytosis of male genitalia in Sarajevo area, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during a 5-year period (2009-2013). Methods A total of 313 male patients with confirmed dermatophyte infection elsewhere in the body was analyzed. All samples (skin scrapings and hairs) were treated with lactophenol...

Tinea faciei is a uncommon clinical form of dermatophyte infection that is frequently misdiagnosed due to its variable appearance. A large retrospective study was carried out to determine the clinical and mycological aspect of tinea faciei in Sarajevo area, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during a 10 year period (2005-2014). A total of 384 patients with su...

Aim To determine the incidence and etiological agents of derma-tophytosis of male genitalia in Sarajevo area, Bosnia and Herzego-vina, during a 5-year period (2009-2013). Methods A total of 313 male patients with confirmed dermatop-hyte infection elsewhere in the body was analyzed. All samples (skin scrapings and hairs) were treated with lactopheno...

Aim To determine the incidence and etiological agents of derma-tophytosis of male genitalia in Sarajevo area, Bosnia and Herzego-vina, during a 5-year period (2009-2013). Methods A total of 313 male patients with confirmed dermatop-hyte infection elsewhere in the body was analyzed. All samples (skin scrapings and hairs) were treated with lactopheno...

Aplasia cutis congenita (ACC) is a rare inborn lesion, presenting with absence of skin. The etiology is unknown and is probably not attributable to a single cause but to a combination of genetic factors. Multiple causes have been suggested for ACC: syndromes and te-ratogens, intrauterine infection – varicella zoster virus, herpes simplex virus – fe...

Aplasia cutis congenita (ACC) is a rare inborn lesion, presenting with absence of skin. The etiology is unknown and is probably not attributable to a single cause but to a combination of genetic factors. Multiple causes have been suggested for ACC: syndromes and te-ratogens, intrauterine infection - varicella zoster virus, herpes simplex virus - fe...

The genus Malasezia currently includes fourteen species that have been isolated from healthy and diseased human and animal skin. However, there were differences with respect to the species most commonly isolated, not only in patients with various skin diseases but also between healthy individuals. The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence...

The genus Malasezia currently includes fourteen species that have been isolated from healthy and diseased human and animal skin. However, there were differences with respect to the species most commonly isolated, not only in patients with various skin diseases but also between healthy individuals. The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence...

Alopecia areata (AA) is a common form of localized, nonscarring hair loss. It is characterized by the loss of hair in patches, total loss of scalp hair (alopecia totalis, AT), or total loss of body hair (alopecia universalis, AU). The cause of AA is unknown, although most evidence supports the hypothesis that AA is a T-cell-mediated autoimmune dise...

Background. Vitiligo is a common skin disorder characterized by macular depigmentation of the skin. The etiopathogenesis of the disease is still unclear, but there is evidence that autoimmunity and endocrine disfunction may be involved. Objective. The aim of this study was to determine whether vitiligo is statistically associated with thyroid auto...

Differences in prevalence, clinical and histological manifestations between seborrheic dermatitis (SD) in immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients suggest that these two populations might also differ in a spectrum of isolated Malassezia species. The purpose of our study was to analyse the prevalence of Malassezia species in immunocompromised...

Scalp involvement is a prominent and often the initial presentation in patients with psoriasis. Hair growth may be impaired with a hair loss and an increased telogen/anagen ratio. The aim of this study was to investigate the hair density and anagen/telogen ratio in psoriatic patients, using epiluminescence microscopy combined with digital image ana...

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most frequent malignant skin tumor, which is associated with both genetic factors and environmental influences. The objective of this study was to investigate the risk factors associated with the occurrence of BCC in the inhabitants of the Western Herzegovina area. The study took place during 1997-2003. We examined...

Aim The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of thyroid structure and functional abnormalities in patients with alopecia areata (AA). Methods The frequency of thyroid disease was assessed in 50 patients with alopecia areata (age range 7-72 years; average 34.5) on the basis of history data, clinical examination and thyroid sonography. T...

Alopecia areata (AA) is a relatively common reversible hair loss disorder usually manifesting as patchy areas of complete hair loss on the scalp and other body parts that can progress to complete loss of all body hair. This disorder affects all age groups, with a higher prevalence in children and adolescents. The etiology of AA is unknown but is ch...

Alopecia areata (AA) is a heterogeneous disease characterized by nonscarring hair loss on the scalp or other parts of the body. A wide range of clinical presentations can occur-from a single patch of hair loss (alopecia unilocularis, AUl), multiple patches (alopecia multilocularis, AM) to complete loss of hair on the scalp (alopecia totalis, AT) or...

Malassezia species are implicated in the pathogenesis of seborrhoeic dermatitis (SD), but the relationship between each species and the disorder remains unclear. It is hypothesised that the pathogenesis of SD has an immune component, which is supported by the increased incidence in patients with immunosuppressive disorders. The purpose of our study...

Malassezia pachydermatis is the only species in the genus Malassezia that is classically considered to be zoophilic. This yeast is only occasionally isolated from human skin, although it has been found to cause septic epidemics, especially in neonates. The aim of our study was to investigate the prevalence of M. pachydermatis on the skin of patient...

The first written medical records on the treatment of dermatovenerologic patients in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) date from the second part of the 19th century. Before this period, health care was available only for wealthy citizens, who could pay private physicians from neighboring countries to bring medication with them. For the rest of the popul...

Alopecia areata (AA) is disease characterized by focally, nonscaring hair loss on the scalp or any hair-bearing surface. It affects 1-2% population of both genders and occurs at all age groups. The etiology is unknown, although the evidence suggests that AA is a clinical reaction pattern that is the result of combinations of genetic and environment...

The pathogenesis of psoriasis is quite complex, but there is compelling evidence that T-cell activation and resultant overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), are critical for the development and maintenance of psoriatic lesion. The recognition of psoriasis as a T-cell mediated disease has led to the...

Epidermolytic hyperkeratosis (EHK) or bullous congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma is a rare autosomal dominant disorder characterized by an early onset, with erythroderma and bullous lesions, leading to severe generalized hyperkeratosis in adulthood. Mutations have been found in keratin 1 and keratin 10 genes. The clinical manifestations of EHK p...

Mal de Meleda is a rare autosomal recessive skin disorder, characterized by transgressive palmoplantar keratoderma, lichenoid skin lesions, perioral erythema, brachydactyly and nail abnormalities. We are reporting two cases of a clinically typical disease in a family. No consanguineous relationship between the parents was known and cases could not...

Alopecia areata (AA) is a common cause of reversible hair loss afflictingapproximately1-2%ofthegeneralpopulation. It commonly present as round patches of hair loss which can be the firstmanifestationofamoreseverealopecia totalis or universalis. The cause of AA is unknown although most evidence supports the hypothesis that AA is an immunologically m...

The progressive increase of zoophilic dermatophytes, especially Microsporum (M.) canis, in the etiology of human der-matophytoses has been observed in many regions in Europe. The aim of our study was to assess the frequency of dermato-phytes in Sarajevo area during the period 1998-2005. A total of 3302 samples (skin scrapings, hair, scalp and nail...

The pathogenesis of psoriasis is quite complex, but there is compelling evidence that T-cell activation and resultant overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), are critical for the development and maintenance of psoriatic lesion. The recognition of psoriasis as a T-cell mediated disease has led to the...

Alopecia areata (AA) is a heterogeneous disease characterized by nonscarring hair loss on the scalp or any hair-bearing surface. A wide range of clinical presentations can occur, from a single patch of hair loss to complete loss of hair on the scalp (alopecia totalis, AT) or over the entire body (alopecia universalis, AU). The cause of AA is unknow...

A retrospective study was conducted to estimate the epidemiology of Herpes zoster according to sex, age, distributionof lesions, subjective symptoms and complications, seasonal appearance and its length. A total of 109 patients were hospitalized for treatment of Herpes zoster during the past ten years (1995-2004), females and older patients being d...

Zoophlic dermatophytes are common cause of tinea infections in Europe, especially in Mediterranean area. The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of zoophilic dermatophytes in Sarajevo area, during a five-year period (1998-2002). Samples (skin scrapings or nail fragments) were taken from 2,142 patients who presented with suspected derma...

Scleredema adultorum of Buschke is a rare connective tissue disorder of unknown origin. We describe a 13-year-old boy with typical features of scleredema: symmetric, diffuse, non-pitting swelling and induration of the skin. There was no association with diabetes mellitus, but we found elevation of the ASO titer, muscular weakness of the extremities...

The epidermal basement membrane is a complex continuum of macromolecules each of which serves as an adherent connection between the epidermis and dermis. Molecular genetic studies have increased our knowledge of the cutaneous basement membrane in health and disease. The development of autoantibodies to certain basement membrane zone (BMZ) molecule...