Barbara J. Rutledge, Ph.D.

To minimize scar formation, intercept facial wounds as early as possible, and treat them during the four-to-eight-week window after the trauma or incision, advises Joseph Niamtu III, D.M.D., an oral/maxillofacial and cosmetic facial surgeon based in Richmond, Va.

Amsterdam - Dermatologists have long been aware that superficial burns tend to heal quickly and leave little or no scarring, and that burns of full thickness, affecting deeper layers of the dermis, are often very slow to heal and leave permanent scars. According to Christopher Dunkin and Jonathon Pleat of the Stoke Mandeville Burns and Reconstructive Surgery Research Trust, Aylesbury, UK, the explanation for this difference might be that there is a "threshold level" for wound depth, with wounds above the threshold healing quickly without scarring and wounds below the threshold healing slowly and developing a fibrotic scar.

Ferrara, Italy - The DermAnalyzer system can be used effectively and reproducibly to assess antioxidant efficacy of cosmetic formulations in a methyl nicotinate model of microinflammation, according to Stefano Manfredini, M.D., professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at the University of Ferrara, Italy, and founder and president of AmbrosiaLab, a spinoff company of the same University. DermAnalyzer is an easy-to-use software system that was developed by Dr. Manfredini and colleagues. DermAnalyzer, which is used together with a high-quality digital camera, such as the Nikon CoolPix900 or similar cameras, is a useful system to determine all CIE L* a*b* coordinates, but in this investigation, only the CIE a* component was disclosed.

San Francisco - It is important to go back to the literature to study the rare phenomenon known as Kasabach-Merritt phenomenon and review the published reports in light of what we currently know about vascular tumors, according to Beth A. Drolet, M.D. "Most of these lesions do involve the skin, so we as dermatologists can play a big part in diagnosis," said Dr. Drolet, associate professor of dermatology and pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin.

Barcelona - TrichoScan is a novel and effective software tool for analyzing hair growth in patients with androgenetic alopecia or androgenetic effluvium, Rolf Hoffman, M.D., said here at the 10th European Hair Research Society Meeting.

Barcelona - Ebastine, a second-generation antihistamine currently marketed in Europe and Japan, offers many advantages as a treatment for mild to moderate alopecia areata, according to Yusuke Yoshizawa, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo.

San Francisco - Photodynamic therapy with oral administration of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA-PDT) is an effective therapy for the treatment of recalcitrant acne vulgaris, according to Yoshiyasu Itoh, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of dermatology, National Defense Medical College, and director, Daikanyama Clinic of Dermatology and Plastic Surgery, Tokyo.

San Francisco - One of the basic tenets of medical dermatology is that the skin serves as a window into the internal parts of the body and internal diseases. Visual examination of the skin can reveal signs of systemic disease, including gastrointestinal disease such as GI polyposis syndromes, inflammatory bowel disease, GI malignancy, hepatobiliary disease, nutritional deficiencies, and other disorders, according to dermatologist Amit G. Pandya, M.D., University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.

Orlando, Fla. - Patients with psoriasis are at higher risk for celiac disease than the general population, according to Veronica Ojetti, M.D., a gastroenterologist at Gemelli Hospital in Rome.

San Francisco - Several of the melanocytic nevi in a "moley" child often have a similar clinical appearance, leading to the concept of a characteristic "signature nevus." Learning to recognize a patient's signature nevus aids in the evaluation of nevi, in particular those with an irregular outline of more than one color, according to Jean Bolognia, M.D.

Rochester, Minn. - The misdiagnosis of skin ulcers as pyoderma gangrenosum is not uncommon and can have serious consequences for patients, according to a recent report in The New England Journal of Medicine (2002;347:1412-1418).