In his Op-Ed piece, “Diary of a Creep,” published in the Sunday January 6, 2013 New York Times, the journalist Rend Smith gives the best description of seborrheic dermatitis we have ever read. Here are excerpts from that piece which can be read in its entirety on the NY Times website. “My problem isn’t as luxurious as aging.,,Yet there’s obviously a corruption, a slow, unidentifiable toxin seeping into my life. I have volcano-ash dandruff, so I haven’t gotten my new hair “shaped up,” in the parlance of black barbershops, out of embarrassment… But worse than anything else is my face, or more specifically, the skin there. The condition I have,, … Continue reading
Acne: Worst Case Scenario
Excerpt from “72 Scars” Evergreen Review. Technically speaking, Scar #1 began in 1971 and lasted well into the 1980s. Like many teenagers, I had acne, but unlike many teenagers, I had the worst case any doctor had ever seen. The only thing to compare it to is Charles Bukowski’s description in Ham on Rye. It started out innocently enough. My dad would drive me to Dr. Fried in Englewood, NJ every Saturday of my freshman year. The treatment would begin with a 30 second x-ray radiation treatment of the afflicted areas and then Dr. Fried would take out a dermatological instrument and go to work squeezing the pimples on my … Continue reading
Perioral Dermatitis: A Personal Odyssey
Attack of the POD People … EEEK ! (Don’t worry – the title is scary, but there’s a happy ending…) Abstract: This is one woman’s narrative of her experiences with perioral dermatitis (POD). In his film, Crimes And Misdemeanors, Woody Allen declares that comedy is tragedy plus time. While POD was not exactly a tragedy for me; it did, however, negatively affect me physically and emotionally six months of the year. In reading my attempts to ease the situation, feel free to laugh (or cry) both with me and at me! Keywords: perioral dermatitis, self-care, self-diagnosis, illness narrative, stress, grief, doxycycline, POD Note: This essay is better read in the … Continue reading
Laser Tattoo Removal Helps Reformed Former White Supremacist Ex-con Shed Nazi Tattoos
Abstract: A dermatologist with a special interest and expertise in lasers works with an ex-con to help him gain self-respect by removing offensive and hateful tattoos. Keywords: lasers, tattoos, tattoo removal, ex-con Read as PDF: Lasers & Tatoos – Ibrahimi Read as Word File: Lasers & Tatoos Here at the Connecticut Skin Institute in Stamford, Connecticut we celebrate diversity and believe that one of the things that makes America great is the wonderful melting pot we live in. It is hard to believe in this day and age that there are still hate groups that discriminate against others solely because of their race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. Because the … Continue reading
If I can stop one heart from breaking…
If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain. Sometimes, as physicians, as care givers, this is all we can do.
The Dermatologist, My Father and Me
To cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always. Abstract: The patient, a teenage boy with early male-pattern alopecia, is brought to a respected academic dermatologist at a famous medical center for an opinion. Sixty years later, the experience still resonates. Keywords: doctor-patient communication, alopecia, baldness, consultation, cruelty, male pattern alopecia My father was especially sensitive about being bald, which, in the context of the 1950’s, was not unusual. So, when I was in my mid-teens, and the familiar signs of thinning and receding hair began to show, he took me to see a dermatologist. Determined to spare no expense to find a cure for my impending affliction he had … Continue reading
Same-old, Same-old Grand Rounds
“The student begins with the patient, continues with the patient, and ends his studies with the patient, using books and lectures as tools, as means to an end.” — Sir William Osler, Aequanimitas, 1905 Keywords: grand rounds, incontenentia pigmenti, VGRD, academic medicine, continuing medical education, CME I recently attended a regional Dermatology Grand Rounds held at an academic medical center. The first such meeting I attended was over 45 years ago. The recent program featured live patient viewing of around 20 people with a variety of unusual skin disorders. Around 150 – 200 dermatologists were present. It started with a 1.5-hour patient-viewing during which we all trooped around the clinic … Continue reading
Grand Rounds Circa 1990
Mens sana in corpore sano —Juvenal My Road to Ground Rounds—and the Results! By H. J. W. Abstract: These are the recollections of an 84 year-old man who was presented at Grand Rounds 22 years ago. He had dermatomyositis at time. His observations are important as they reflect on the academic activity and also the evolution of one man’s experience with dermatomyositis. Keywords: dermatomyositis, grand rounds, illness narrative, academic medicine, pruritus, Massachusetts General Hospital Twenty years ago when my glass shower door came off its track, I had a hard time lifting it back into place. “Am I getting weaker?” I thought. My upper body itched. I had no pep, … Continue reading
Human Microbiome (Introduction)
The human microbiome is the collection of microorganisms (such as bacteria viruses and fungi) which live on and inside humans (on the skin, in the saliva and mouth, in the eyes, and in the gut and the rest of the gastrointestinal tract). Foreign microbes outnumber human cells in the body a wide margin; humans have about 100 trillion cells, and carry ten times as many microorganisms in the intestines alone. We know that some of these organisms are useful for humans. However, most have no known effect; they are just symbionts and are referred to as the normal ‘flora.’ Studies in 2009 asked whether our health is damaged if we reduce this biota (collection of … Continue reading
Hunting for Bear: A Melanoma Postscript
Hunting for Bear: A Melanoma Postscript by Tim Guetti Abstract: A 62 year-old man relates his experiences after being diagnosed with an acrolentiginous melanoma on his foot. The surgery interferes with his plans to go on a father-son bear hunt. We hear and read many stories about the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma, but few relate what is important to the patient with the disease. Keywords: hunting, bear, melanoma, foot, acrolentiginous, melanoma, father, son My story begins a few years back when my son Scott, now 39, said to me “Dad, we need to go on a hunt.” It had been many years since we had been on a “hunt” … Continue reading
