News

The Department of Health and Human Services is proposing a new rule that would allow patients to have direct access to their lab test results. The tests that dermatologists send, such as biopsies, can indicate serious medical conditions. On Call asked dermatologists around the country what they think about patients being able to access their lab results directly, without the benefit of the physician's knowledge and experience to interpret their meaning.

Findings from a study examining an association between dermatologist density and melanoma mortality suggest that better workforce distribution may lead to a population-level improvement in mortality related to this malignancy, reported researchers at the 2011 annual meeting of the Society for Investigative Dermatology.

In the elderly population, the sources of itching are the same as those affecting anyone else, but the causes of their discomfort are usually exacerbated by age, according to Jeffrey Bernhard, M.D., a dermatologist who practices in Worcester, Mass.

Tanya Kormeili, M.D., was 3 years old when the Iranian Revolution began to unravel her family's life. As pro-democracy Jews living in Tehran, the Kormeilis experienced an erosion of their freedoms with each year of the Ayatollah Khomeini's reign.

A Korean clinical study suggests that nail bed vascular abnormalities are associated with optic disc hemorrhage and other manifestations of glaucoma, MedPage Today reports.

Nonablative fractional 1,550 nm and ablative fractional CO2 lasers are effective and safe for treating acne scars in ethnic skin, HealthDay News reports.

Cutera has announced that Canadian regulatory agency Health Canada has approved the company’s Excel V laser for vascular, pigment and overall skin-rejuvenation treatments, Globe Newswire reports.

The American Medical Association (AMA) is urging physicians who were unable to meet the requirements of the Medicare E-prescribing (eRx) program to apply for a hardship exemption before the Nov. 1 deadline to avoid monetary penalties in 2012.

Minors in California will no longer be permitted to use tanning beds, under a bill Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Oct. 9, Reuters reports.

Minimizing Malpractice : Caring, communication key to reducing risk of legal action It's a Pleasure : UV radiation activates reward pathways in brains of frequent tanners Special Report : Infectious diseases

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated the boxed warning for all tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) inhibitors to include the risk of infection from the bacteria legionella and listeria, MedPage Today reports.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis who were treated with tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) inhibitors were at an increased risk for skin cancer but not for lymphoma or other malignancies, MedPage Today reports.

Rice University researchers have developed a new method for making synthetic collagen, ScienceDaily reports.

A discovery by researchers at Yale University could lead to new treatments for baldness, Medical News Today reports.

State College, Pa. ? A new interview technique could help physicians more effectively counsel their patients in the use of sun-protection methods, Medscape Today reports.

Nottingham, England ? A British study suggests that companies touting the effectiveness of their acne treatment products can?t always back their claims with hard evidence.

London ? Breastfeeding may not help prevent babies from developing eczema after all, Medical News Today reports.

Put Your Best Facebook Forward : Ignoring this popular network could leave you socially stranded Cutting The Risk : Calcium, vitamin D combo protects some patients against melanoma Special Report : Pigmentary disorders

“I hate the stock market.&rdqou; That was the subject line in a lengthy email I received yesterday from an old friend. The body of the message was equally firm.

The single most common mistake we see in our physician-focused practice is in the doctors’ choice of specialists. The successful delivery of healthcare is based on the patients’ need for physicians to refer them within and between various specialties and subspecialties when unique challenges arise. When it comes to the successful navigation of their own financial health, however, physicians do not apply the same logic or expect the same level of sophistication from their advisers.

Advances in hair-transplantation techniques and instrumentation are allowing physicians to provide more comprehensive, natural-appearing results, sometimes in a single session.

A new topical therapy combining low-dose 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) with salicylic acid is proving very effective in the treatment of actinic keratosis (AK), particularly in more difficult to treat advanced hyperkeratotic AK lesions, study results show.

Protein glycation is an important event in skin aging, self-tanning creams and the toasting of bread. While these activities may seem unrelated, all of them involve a chemical reaction known as protein glycation.

Although numerous hydroquinone-free compounds for skin lightening are available, their effectiveness depends on the severity of the condition, according to Marta Rendon, M.D., who practices in Boca Raton, Fla.

While the implementation of health information technology (HIT) systems in medical practices has the potential of improving healthcare efficiency and patient care, there are obstacles that medical practices must overcome, and those problems are especially acute for small practices such as those operated by many dermatologists.

The addition of afamelanotide, known by the trademark Scenesse (Clinuvel), may represent a major advance in the treatment of vitiligo, a condition for which there is no therapy in the United States that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

When the United States reached a virtual gridlock in July over raising the country's debt ceiling, most politicians agreed that the country needed to cut spending to bring the nation's budget back into line. With the medical component of the proposed spending cuts, On Call wondered how dermatologists viewed the political gymnastics occurring in Washington and how the impact on Medicare and Medicaid would affect their practices and medicine in the future.

Although large, randomized, controlled trials of topical treatments for alopecia areata (AA) are lacking, experts say many such treatments provide varying degrees of success. When it comes to AA, says Jerry Shapiro, M.D., "Some dermatologists still believe nothing works." He is adjunct professor, department of dermatology, New York University, New York.

Although patterned pigmentation in children can include a variety of clinical findings involving neurologic, musculoskeletal and cardiac abnormalities, most localized pigmentary disorders are not associated with systemic manifestations, according to pediatric dermatologist James Treat, M.D., University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia.

Supplementation with a combination of calcium and vitamin D may cut the chance of melanoma in half for a group of high-risk women, researchers at Stanford University say.