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Mansur AT, Demirci GT, Uzunismail MA, et al. A rare complication of follicular hair unit extraction: Kaposi's varicelliform eruption. Dermatol Pract Concept. 2016;6(1):15-7doi: 10.5826/dpc.0601a05.
Mansur, A. T., Demirci, G. T., Uzunismail, M. A., & Yildiz, S. (2016). A rare complication of follicular hair unit extraction: Kaposi's varicelliform eruption. Dermatology practical & conceptual, 6(1), 15-7. https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.0601a05
Mansur, A Tulin, et al. "A rare complication of follicular hair unit extraction: Kaposi's varicelliform eruption." Dermatology practical & conceptual vol. 6,1 (2016): 15-7. doi: https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.0601a05
Mansur AT, Demirci GT, Uzunismail MA, Yildiz S. A rare complication of follicular hair unit extraction: Kaposi's varicelliform eruption. Dermatol Pract Concept. 2016 Jan 31;6(1):15-7. doi: 10.5826/dpc.0601a05. eCollection 2016 Jan. PMID: 26937302; PMCID: PMC4758440.
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Dermatol Pract Concept. 2016 Jan 31;6(1):15-7. doi: 10.5826/dpc.0601a05. eCollection 2016 Jan.

A rare complication of follicular hair unit extraction: Kaposi's varicelliform eruption.

Dermatology practical & conceptual

A Tulin Mansur, Gulsen T Demirci, M Adnan Uzunismail, Semsi Yildiz

Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, Baskent ?stanbul University Hospital, ?stanbul, Turkey.
  2. Department of Plastic Surgery, Baskent ?stanbul University Hospital, ?stanbul, Turkey.
  3. Department of Pathology, Baskent ?stanbul University Hospital, ?stanbul, Turkey.

PMID: 26937302 PMCID: PMC4758440 DOI: 10.5826/dpc.0601a05

Abstract

Follicular hair unit extraction (FUE) is becoming a popular type of hair transplantation recently. Kaposi's varicelliform eruption (KVE) is an uncommon skin emergency due to cutaneous dissemination of several types of viruses, most notably herpes virus, over the lesions of preexisting skin disorders. A 34-year-old man visited our dermatology outpatient clinic with a blistering, itchy and tender eruption on his head and body. He had undergone follicular FUE for androgenic alopecia 12 days previously, and 5 days after the procedure, umbilicated and/or hemorrhagic vesiculopustules appeared firstly on the occipital scalp skin where the hair units were taken. The lesions had rapidly spread over the upper chest and back. After the operation, he had taken oral methylprednisolone, amoxicillin clavulanate and had used fusidic acid ointment without any benefit. Bacterial culture of the pustules yielded no microorganism, while Tzanck smear from the vesicles revealed multinuclear giant cell groups. Based on a diagnosis of KVE, we treated the patient with oral valacyclovir hydrochloride 1000 mg 3 times a day for 14 days. Symptoms cleared rapidly, pustules and vesicles dried in a few days, and re-epithelialization of the eroded areas started at the end of the first week. The reported complications of FUE include necrosis of the donor site, postoperative hyperesthesia, recipient area folliculitis, keloids, bleeding, infection and pyogenic granuloma. Up to this date there are only three reports of KVE developing just after dermatological surgery, including dermabrasion, laser resurfacing, and skin grafting. According to our knowledge, this is the first case of KVE occurring after the FUE procedure. We think that the traumatic effects and skin barrier disruption due to operation and immune alteration due to postsurgical steroid treatment might have precipitated the activation and dissemination of latent herpesvirus infection.

Keywords: Kaposi’s varicelliform eruption; follicular hair unit extraction; hair unit

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