Pediatric Dermatology

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Botulinum toxin is a complex protein produced by the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Botulinum toxin type A injections can be used to treat various focal muscle spastic disorders and excessive muscle contractions such as dystonias and spasms.

New Orleans — Rather than simply plumping up the back of the hand, fat injections given there perform a host of rejuvenation functions that researchers are just beginning to understand.

National report — When traditional approaches fail, many skin conditions may benefit from the addition of a few needles — acupuncture needles, that is. Some physicians are having good success integrating acupuncture into their dermatological practices.

National report — Results of a study assessing sunlight exposure during winter months in various geographic locations across the United States refute the idea that "safe sun" photoprotection practices are associated with a risk of vitamin D deficiency, says J. Frank Nash, Ph.D., principle scientist, Procter & Gamble Co., Cincinnati.

Should the cuts take place as planned, 18 percent of physicians surveyed by the American Medical Association say they would stop accepting new Medicare patients; 57 percent would decrease time spent with patients; and 46 percent would reduce staffing levels.

National report — Recreational swimming in swimming pools results in short-term but significant changes to biophysical properties related to skin hydration, researchers report.

New Orleans — Concomitant topical treatment with tacrolimus 0.1 percent ointment (Protopic, Fujisawa) does not improve the response of generalized vitiligo to narrowband UVB phototherapy, according to the results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, pilot study undertaken by researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Nice, France — Results of a comparative, prospective, randomized study undertaken by French dermatologists indicate that topical tacrolimus ointment 0.1 percent (Protopic, Fujisawa) plus phototherapy with a 308-nm excimer laser can be a highly effective combination for the treatment of recalcitrant, localized vitiligo.

New Orleans — Scientific literature rarely portrays cutaneous manifestations of West Nile virus (WNV) because these manifestations are, by nature, transient. However, a recent case report contains what is only the second publication of these symptoms.

New Orleans — When it comes to studying genetic diseases of the skin, the popular mantra that "It's all in the DNA" doesn't tell the whole story.

As the Vioxx/Celebrex scandal lays waste to the American healthcare landscape as we know it, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finds itself under relentless pressure to get things right. Congress is demanding more stringent safety standards and even threatening to create a new federal agency to take safety approvals and monitoring out of the FDA's hands.

The act of taxing a single group of patients who are seeking cosmetic surgery simply because they are easy targets is unfair, injudicious, potentially sexist and wrong.