While several employees wanted to wear masks upon his office reopening, Dr. Covid reminded them that their state governor and city mayor did not require their use. Now an employee has contracted COVID-19 from a patient and has filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Should he be concerned?

Will OSHA cite me for requesting employees not wear masks?

Zoe Diana Draelos, M.D., explains the role of preservatives in skincare products and the general safety and efficacy of products when it comes to protecting the skin against environmental factors.

How safe are cosmetics?

A series of needle punctures down to the periosteum along glabellar line(s) allows clinicians to assess for the presence of the supratrochlear artery and/or its branches prior to filler injection.

Pretreatment punch technique guides safe injection  

Safety guidelines from the European Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery Aesthetic Medicine Focus Group describe protocols for protecting clinic staff and patients from COVID-19. Recommendations include procedures before, during and after a patient visit, as well as necessary forms.

COVID-19 safety guidelines provide protocols to protect staff, patients 

While more evidence is required to really understand how diet impacts skin aging, some studies suggest a Mediterranean diet, changing cooking methods and decreasing sugar can positively impact skin aging.

What we know (and don’t) about dietary effects on skin aging

Manipulating the microbiome has been shown to impact conditions including acne, atopic dermatitis (AD), autoimmune diseases and melanoma. While there are many clinical trials now in progress, safety and efficacy have not yet been proven.

Microbiome-based treatments not ready for prime time

Recruiting is ongoing for an investigator-initiated clinical trial of pembrolizumab in clinical stage 2B/C melanoma which will investigate the effects of treatment with pembrolizumab before surgery to remove melanoma on the rate of positive sentinel lymph nodes in patients with stage IIB/C melanoma.

Emerging options for high-risk melanoma

Researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Center are investigating interactions between immunomodulatory treatments used to manage inflammatory skin diseases and the effects on patients with COVID-19.


Systemic immunomodulatory therapy may protect patients with COVID-19

Many patients with rosacea have features that overlap more than one subtype of the condition. A recent publication serves as a compliment to the classification guide with the intention of guiding treatment and management options based on individual patient features.

Phenotypes inform management options 


Leveraging artificial intelligence as an assistive tool could open up opportunities for streamlining melanoma diagnosis, expanding practice scope, and enhancing patient care.


AI has potential to improve melanoma detection

Using a novel autoantigen array, researchers have shown that the IgG4 anti-gliadin autoantibody might provide useful information for diagnosis and prognosis of psoriasis.

Autoantigen array identifies IgG4 anti-gliadin autoantibody

Effects of a specialized skincare regimen for sensitive and redness-prone skin were investigated in an eight-week, prospective, controlled clinical trial enrolling 60 patients with rosacea. The intervention was associated with improvements in objectively measured erythema, rosacea symptoms, and health-related quality of life.

Specialized skincare regimen improves rosacea symptoms 

Combination therapies that integrate older therapies have shown great promise in the treatment and management of keloids.

Combination therapies improve keloid treatment

Smartphones may provide another tool for physicians to assess acne severity in patients with darker skin types, a study shows.

Smartphones aid GEA scale assessment in patients with darker skin

The International Skin Imaging Collaboration is an academic and industry partnership designed to facilitate the clinical application of digital skin imaging, with an initial focus on melanoma.
The group is developing standards for dermatologic imaging and building a public archive of clinical and dermoscopic images for use in developing artificial intelligence diagnostic algorithms.


Collaboration makes progresses standards for implementing AI

Experts offer insights into the inflammatory pathways involved in rosacea pathogenesis, the putative anti-inflammatory mechanisms of action of treatments for rosacea, and future therapeutic needs.

Pathophysiologic pathways provide treatment efficacy insight

The implementation of artificial intelligence technology in the long-term management and follow-up of acne patients may help to improve patient treatment outcomes. 

Dermatology Times, September 2020 (Vol. 41, No. 9)