News

An unexpected immune protein exacerbates cancer due to sun exposure, and a drug designed to block the protein might halt tumor growth, a recently published study suggests.

Biovail Laboratories, a subsidiary of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, based here, has secured the Canadian distribution rights to Aczone, an acne treatment medication owned by Allergan, according news reports.

Researchers here claim the sap from a commonly found weed could help cure certain types of skin cancer, the U.K.’s online Daily Mail reports.

New research suggests that Step 1 scores on the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) correlate significantly, though moderately, with dermatology resident in-training exam (ITE) scores, HealthDay News reports.

Dermatologists will now be able to convert the iPhone into a dermatoscope for checking potential skin cancer lesions, according to an online report from Mobile Magazine.

Although the United States ranks No. 1 in the world in healthcare spending, it ranks 28th in life expectancy, according to new statistics from the National Academy of Sciences.

As far as physicians are concerned, the jury is still out on whether health information technology (IT) will improve healthcare, iHealthBeat.org reports.

PDR Network, based here, has teamed with The Doctors Company to launch a national campaign to improve physicians’ awareness of changes in Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug label guidelines.

A device invented by a Canadian dermatologist may be able to detect early-stage melanoma using light, according to Canada’s TheGlobeandMail.com.

The first U.S. face transplant cost about $350,000 - a fee comparable to or less than the cost of traditional reconstructive surgeries for severe facial wounds, CNNhealth.com reports.

Exiting Academia : Recruiting, retaining derm instructors a struggle Treating MRSA : IDSA releases first U.S. clinical practice guidelines Special Report : Anti-aging therapies

Although dermatologists have embraced mole-mapping techniques, including total body imaging and (to a lesser extent) dermoscopy, they appear to share the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) concerns that non-dermatologists might misuse the MelaFind (MELA Sciences) device, which an FDA advisory panel recently recommended for approval in a split decision.

Looming reimbursement cuts from government and commercial payers worry many dermatologists, all of whom fear a decline in practice profitability. Before you take dramatic cost-cutting measures, make a careful review of your practice's efficiency.

Anti-aging therapies continue to evolve along with technology. Rather than choosing more invasive procedures such as facelifts, patients seeking skin tightening or revolumizing are turning to a combination of laser treatment and injectable fillers, according to an expert.

Researchers have been trying for decades to find a better way to treat metastatic melanoma, looking for vaccines and immunotherapy options that may serve as successful therapies. On Call wondered how dermatologists view the flurry of activity around melanoma therapies.

There was some concern about a link between antiperspirants and Alzheimer's disease several years ago that has been revived by some consumer watchdog groups. The observation was made that renal dialysis patients who are unable to eliminate aluminum from the body experience a higher-than-average incidence of Alzheimer's disease. It was never proven that this was due to high aluminum levels.

Academic pediatric dermatologists can burn out for the same reasons as do their general dermatology colleagues, but they also face unique challenges, those in the field say.

Will 2011 be the year that medical malpractice reform becomes a reality? The new political alignment in Congress appears to offer more hope than in many years past, and advocates are anxious to move forward toward that long-illusive objective.

How many times have patients brought in newspaper clippings, pages torn out of magazines, printed Internet downloads and scribblings on paper shreds detailing skincare products about which they want to know more? In my practice, this occurs daily.

Defending one's online honor begins long before someone posts a cyber-slam, according to several experts who spoke at Cosmetic Surgery Forum 2010 in Las Vegas in December.

Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) require physicians not only to have effective clinical strategies, but also to recognize the legal and interpersonal consequences that can be associated with these conditions.

Novel Aesthetic options expected to make a splash in the United States in 2011 include new hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers, a new topical treatment for redness and a recently approved device for nonsurgical facelifting. Several dermatologists reported on these and other Aesthetic products either recently approved or under review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), at the 2010 Cosmetic Surgery Forum in Las Vegas in December.

Dermatologist Neal Schultz, M.D., is doing his part to set the record straight. Frustrated by what he says is an Internet fraught with misinformation, Dr. Schultz and his 29-year-old son, Stuart, started DermTV.com, an online skincare video show dedicated to unbiased truth, he says.

As patients' faces change with age, so, too, should their options for treating lines and wrinkles. A variety of injectable fillers are on the market, but which ones to use on a given patient depends on the person's age, according to a cosmetic dermatologist.

The "brain drain" of academic dermatologists leaving teaching positions may be slowing, but individual institutions still report long wait times for patient appointments, and many physicians worry about who will teach future generations.

Discovered in the early 1800s, "Hydroquinone has primarily been used as a photographic developer through history," says Jeannette Graf, M.D., assistant clinical professor of dermatology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York.

An investigational oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor (CP-690,550; Pfizer) has met its safety and efficacy endpoints in a phase 2 trial for chronic moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, says the trial's lead investigator.

Dermatologists can achieve the best cosmetic surgery results - and even exceed patients' expectations - by identifying candidates who will benefit most from procedures Aesthetically and because they have reasonable expectations, says Ranella Hirsch, M.D., a dermatologist in Cambridge, Mass.

The first U.S. clinical practice guidelines for treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) clarify use of antibiotics and devote substantial attention to invasive bacteremia, endocarditis, bone and joint infections, and pneumonia.

Cosmeceutical researchers are discovering new mechanisms to attack excess pigmentation, according to several physicians who spoke at the 2010 Cosmetic Surgery Forum in Las Vegas in December.