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Reflectance confocal microscopy is a valuable noninvasive tool for diagnosing basal cell carcinoma and melanoma, and may dramatically reduce unnecessary excisions of benign lesions, according to a recent study.

Melanoma transection does not affect a patient’s overall disease-free survival or mortality, and punch and saucerization biopsies may be more likely to transect tumors than excisional biopsies, according to a recent study.

A newly developed device using spatial frequency domain imaging and light-emitting diodes can measure biochemical compositional changes in port wine stains after laser therapy, according to results of a pilot study.

Richard Winkelmann, M.D., a physician and pioneering dermatology and pathology researcher at the Mayo Clinic, died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Rochester recently. He was 88.

Recently developed biologic therapies developed for treating rheumatoid arthritis are not associated with an increased risk of cancer, according to investigators from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Patients who undergo an interactive education program, including skin self-examination (SSE) tutorials and telecommunications reminders, are more likely to identify melanoma, according to a recently published study.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals has agreed to buy Medicis Pharmaceutical in a deal valued at about $2.6 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2013.

Destination Unknown : Accountable care organizations & similar shared-savings models likely will impact dermatologists’ role in healthcare, but to what extent remains largely uncertain RNA & UV rays : Research sheds light on the inflammatory mechanism of sunburn Clinical Dermatology : Once-daily application of brimonidine tartrate gel safe, effective for facial erythema of rosacea Cosmetic Dermatology : Glycans and glycobiology emerge in development of anti-aging skincare products Cutaneous Oncology : AJCC’s melanoma staging system elicits debate among dermatologists Practice Management : Successful outsourcing can improve patient throughput, lower staffing costs

About 76,000 new cases of invasive melanoma occur in the United States each year, according to the American Cancer Society, and patients who have had one melanoma have a 5 to 10 percent risk of developing another primary tumor during their lifetime. As a result of this increased melanoma risk, careful follow-up of these patients is critical, a Harvard clinician advises.

Although dermatologic conditions most apparently affect the skin, dermatologists commonly encounter three types of psychodermatologic disorders where the mind and skin may interact, according to John Koo, M.D., professor and vice chairman, department of dermatology, University of California, San Francisco Medical Center.