Alopecia symptoms are a disease that takes a long time to treat and is often intractable. It is often not itchy or painful, but it is a troublesome condition that significantly reduces quality of life, reduces the range of activities, causes emotional stress, affects school life, and imposes physical and mental restrictions on all aspects of human life, including love, friendships, and sports. Since it takes time for treatment to make the results, the main response in the meantime is to use wigs and cosmetics, which in many cases have significantly improved quality of life. This paper outlines various methods of coping with the condition, including wigs, cosmetics, hair growth products, and art makeup.

Rosacea is a chronic inflammatory dermatosis for which “trigger” avoidance and proper skin care are essential, along with drug therapy. To avoid irritation, cosmetic products used in daily skin care should be of good quality and hypo-irritation. In Japan, azelaic acid formulations which are used to treat rosacea and acne vulgaris, are available as quasi-drugs also called medicated cosmetics. Cosmetics that correct and camouflage redness may be useful in improving the quality of life of rosacea patients. Rosacea-like dermatitis is a medical condition similar to rosacea caused by topical steroids or other medical agents. Although the causative drugs should be discontinued, rosacea-like dermatitis is thought to be an exacerbation of rosacea caused by those drugs, and treatment and skin care similar to that for rosacea may be useful. Seborrheic dermatitis is a chronic recurrent dermatitis caused by the involvement of Malassezia, an indigenous yeast fungus of the skin. Skin care with cleansing agents containing ingredients that prevent Malassezia growth may be useful in treating seborrheic dermatitis along with drug therapy.

The primary lesion of acne is comedone which is caused by obstruction of the infundibulum of the hair follicles and increased secretion of sebum, and an increase of Cutibacterium acnes (C. acnes) within the comedones and following inflammation cause reddish papules, pustules, and cysts. Adapalene, benzoyl peroxide (BPO) and oral/topical antibiotics are strongly recommended in the Japanese guidelines for the treatment of acne. Adapalene mainly works on comedones, BPO works on comedones and C. acnes, and antibiotics work on C. acnes and inflammations. In the Japanese guidelines for the treatment of acne, combination therapies with adapalene, BPO and antibiotics are strongly recommended.

Skin care is also important to prevent and reduce acne eruptions. The role of cosmetics in acne care is 1) to reduce eruptions by skin care products, 2) to reduce the side effects of topical comedonal treatments with adapalene and BPO, 3) to improve quality of life by camouflage the eruption using make-up products. Using non-comedogenic cosmetics and adequate face wash with soap are also important for acne prone skin.

Since acne is a common disease, we should recommend the best treatment and skin care based on evidence.

It is difficult to treat the facial symptoms of adult patients with atopic dermatitis, and both patients and dermatologists tend to think that cosmetic behavior aggravates the skin symptoms. However, daily life without makeup sometimes deteriorates the patient’s quality of life. From the experience of treating many patients with atopic dermatitis, we believe that basic makeup for moisturizing and light shielding to protect from the outside air is rather useful for stabilizing skin symptoms and deserves treatment. If it is suspected that cosmetics are an aggravating factor, a dermatologist should guide the selection of appropriate cosmetics without irritation by performing a patch test.

With the spread of nail art, the number of people who enjoy dressing up their nails daily with nail cosmetics such as gel nail polish is increasing. However, the popularity of nail art has led to an increase in the number of patients with allergic contact dermatitis due to the acrylic resin in nail cosmetics. Acrylic resins are known to cause occupational allergies in nail artists, dental technicians, printers and fiberglass workers. Allergic contact dermatitis also occurs when unpolymerized acrylic resin adheres to the skin during gel nail or nail tip application. A typical clinical symptom of allergic contact dermatitis caused by nail cosmetics, such as gel nails, is dermatitis around the nail and finger pads, presenting as intense itching and burning in the finger. Acrylic resin might also cause airborne contact dermatitis on the patient’s face and neck. There have also been reports of cases in which gingivitis was induced by dental treatment involving the use of acrylic resin.

We performed patch tests to identify the causative agent for allergic contact dermatitis induced by acrylic resin. The most frequent allergen was found to be 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate. Although acrylic resins are strong sensitizers, allergies can be avoided by their proper and safe use.