Melanoma is a very serious form of skin cancer, but the good news is that survival rates are high if it is detected and treated early. To help her patients to detect melanoma, Boston dermatologist Dr. Tania Phillips gives them a simple list of questions to answer and asks them to remember their ABCDEs. Are you at risk for melanoma? If you answer YES to one or more of the following questions, you might be more likely to develop melanoma and we recommend that you get your skin examined regularly by a dermatologist. However, it does not mean that you will get melanoma. … Continue reading »
With the change of season upon us, you may be experiencing worsening dryness, flakiness and redness on your face and/or scalp. This may not just be dry skin, but seborrheic dermatitis, a very common skin condition that affects 1 to 5% of the general population and that our dermatologists near Boston see regularly. Changes in season or weather, but also emotional and psychological stress are usual circumstances when seborrheic dermatitis rears its head. Common areas affected are the scalp (mild forms are seen as dandruff) as well as behind or inside the ears, along the eyebrows, by the nose, cheek, … Continue reading »
Viral warts or verrucae are caused by the human papilloma virus and are very common. They are usually spread by skin to skin contact and are most commonly seen on the hands and feet. Warts are not harmful and usually go away in time without any treatment. One-fifth of all warts disappear within six months, and two-thirds are gone within two years. However, if your wart is unsightly and painful, various treatments exist to treat it. Unfortunately, not all are effective. Our dermatologists at SkinCare Physicians in the Boston area regularly field questions on wart treatments. Here are our recommendations. … Continue reading »
We often hear that the difference between major surgery and minor surgery is if it is happening to you or to someone else. In the case of Mohs surgery for skin cancer, that say should not apply. Here is why… More than three million people in the United States are diagnosed with skin cancer each year. That is more than all other cancers combined. In fact, one out of every five Americans will develop skin cancer within their lifetime. Fortunately, more than 90% of skin cancers are easily curable. The most common forms of skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma … Continue reading »
The problem of effectively treating hyperhidrosis, or excessive sweating, has received increasing attention over the last two years. As physicians, we knew that it was a problem for our patients, but I don’t think we understood the following: First, how big of a problem it was for people who suffered from hyperhidrosis. Statistics show that as many as 20 percent of the population is adversely affected in a way that people would seek medical care. Second, how much in demand treatment for excessive sweating would be. I was recently interviewed by the American Society for Lasers in Medicine & Surgery … Continue reading »
Do you have facial redness and or broken blood vessels that don’t seem to go away? If so, you might have rosacea. Rosacea is a common inflammatory condition in the family of acne that often begins in the third and fourth decades of life. More than 14 million Americans are living with rosacea. Common symptoms include flushing, persistent redness, and pimples. While medicated cream containing metronidazole (Metrogel) or oral antibiotics treat the pimples, they do not take care of the redness and dilated blood vessels. The redness and dilated blood vessels can, however, be treated very effectively with the pulsed … Continue reading »
A recent report from the American Cancer Society shows that the death rate from cancer in the U.S. is declining for Americans. This is exciting news! Despite this overall decrease in cancer-related death rates, the number of melanomas continues to rise. And, sadly, the number of melanoma deaths is increasing faster than any other cancer. There are some proven, effective ways of preventing melanoma! Early detection techniques and early removal of melanomas are the most effective ways of decreasing this risk. Patients themselves report finding many melanomas on their own skin, by doing a careful skin self-exam (SSE). Melanomas that … Continue reading »
While the influenza vaccine offers the best defense against the flu, frequent handwashing, done properly, offers an additional effective prevention tool. It’s official: flu season has hit, and here in Boston, as across America, we are getting hit especially hard this year. As the nationwide outbreak of this unusually aggressive virus increases, cases have risen dramatically and deaths have been reported in many cities. The CDC’s weekly map of cases in the US shows widespread influenza in almost all states (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm). Boston has already seen 700 cases of flu since October, and 18 flu-related deaths have been reported in Massachusetts. In … Continue reading »
