DermHelpCentral

Annual Checkups: Why?

October 23, 2012: The New York Times reports on a recent study "including more than 180,000 subjects, [that has found] found that general health checkups — like annual physicals or other visits to the doctor by asymptomatic people — are ineffective and possibly harmful."

The NY Times article was based on a Danish study, General health checks in adults for reducing morbidity and mortality from disease reported in the prestigious Cochrane Library in October 2012.

Makeup Artist

Some of our patients have blemishes or scars which need to be covered up.  This can improve one's appearance and give one more confidence.  Sabrina Fortier can give you the look, confidence, and skin you have always wanted. Not only is she a makeup artist but a licensed esthetician making her a skin care specialist as well. Her range of proficiencies include: skin classification and analysis, skin specific treatment planning, acne care management, age management, Rosacea and sensitive skins, as well as ethnic and male skin care. Sabrina can guide you in the right direction with your skin care routine while educating you on makeup. "The better your skin looks, the better the makeup is going to look

I have known Sabrina for years and can attest to her skill and professionalism.

You may email her at:  SabrinaMarieMakeup.

Mohs Micrographic Surgery (MMS)

Dermatologist Dorinda Shelley wrote this short poem a few years back:

Who knows
Whose Nose
Needs Mohs?

The answer, of course, is "Your Dermatologist."  Kidding aside, here are some thoughts about MMS that may be helpful in your decision making process.

“Mohs surgery depends on 2 very important concepts: 

• The first is that microscope slides need to be prepared with en face sectioning, not a technique that is done rapidly or reliably in the pathology lab.  It takes us over 6 months to train a technician to get the full face of the tissue, including epidermis, reliably.  Without full face examination of the tissue, the procedure is simply excision with rush sections. 
• The second crucial component is that the surgeon be the pathologist.  This allows the greatest ability to excise the correct spot on any second or third stage.  It is also important to understand the path, so you can excise to the correct layer.

No one has ever done a study to show that pseudo-Mohs is as effective as real Mohs.  Imagine, depriving your patients of the real thing."

Here is a longer explanation: Download Mohs Micrographic Surgery

DermNet has a fine page on MMS.  It concludes with this sentence: “The Mohs surgeon needs to have skills in dermatology, oncology, pathology and reconstructive surgery."  We feel that plastic surgeons who perform pseudo-Mohs simply do not have the interest, training or expdertise to handle tumors in certain critical sites.