News

Although August is when the Internal Revenue Service traditionally begins selecting those 2002 tax returns that are to be examined in more depth, many dermatologists found themselves being targeted for examination soon after the April 15 tax deadline. After all, April 15, was also the deadline for participating in the IRS's "Offshore Voluntary Compliance Initiative" (OVCI), a "come back into the fold and you will be forgiven your tax transgressions" program.

Q. I recently attended a seminar on how to protect assets from potential lawsuits that detailed a number of complicated strategies, all of which seemed rather impractical and expensive. From a practical standpoint, which of the various asset-protection techniques are dermatologists successfully utilizing?

Today I gave a four-hour series of talks at the Vancouver Airport Fairmont Hotel for Altus Medical, a laser company.

San Francisco - Laboratory studies show that Olay Daily Facial cloths do not damage the stratum corneum, according to investigators for Procter & Gamble, maker of the products.

San Francisco - Medically necessary blood thinners should be continued in patients undergoing cutaneous surgery, said Clark C. Otley, M.D.

Modena, Italy - Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) in transplant patients can arise from donor KS progenitor cells transmitted through the graft, according to Mario Luppi, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of hematology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

San Francisco - A one-week course of oral valacyclovir (Valtrex) appears to be a safe, effective, and economical alternative to inpatient or outpatient intravenous (IV) acyclovir (Zovirax) for treatment of immunocompromised patients with uncomplicated, acute herpes zoster virus infections, Mathijs H. Brentjens, M.D., said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Dr. Trial has been hired as an expert witness to defend a dermatologist in a medical malpractice case. He rendered his expert opinion stating that he would have performed a dermatologic surgical procedure in a certain manner, even though such an approach was not routinely performed by the dermatologic community. The defendant dermatologist lost the case. His attorney is convinced that the case was lost because Dr. Trial did not perform well on cross-examination. Should Dr. Trial be concerned that he will now be sued?

Darker skin patients show impressive results

Increased paperwork is at least partly to blame for many of the management difficulties faced by dermatologists, according to Thomas G. Olsen M.D.

Q. Can you summarize what impact the recently proposed tax law will have on retirement plans?

Q. What is the difference between an azelaic acid gel and an azelaic acid cream?

San Francisco - The key to effectively treating toenail and fingernail onychomycosis may lay in the delivery system rather than in the drug itself, according to preliminary results of an open-label feasibility study of a 4 percent clotrimazole lacquer formulated with the drug delivery technology CPE-215 (15 percent).

Maui, Hawaii -- Joseph B. Bikowski, M.D., speaking at the annual Hawaii Dermatology Seminar, offered anecdotal information for 15 common facial issues, based on what has worked in his Pittsburgh-area dermatology practice.

Nearly all of us use and depend on computers for running and operating our medical offices. I doubt there are many of us who could successfully operate our practices without this evolving technology, which adds not only to

About five years ago, I set up a Web site for my dermatology practice. My Web site was useful not only as a source of information for patients and potential patients but also as a source of information for pharmaceutical companies and other businesses I deal with.

San Francisco -A novel night firming product containing niacinamide, dexpanthenol, tocopherol acetate, and hydrolyzed wheat protein strengthens the stratum corneum better than nine other commercial firming and moisturizing products, according to transepidermal water loss studies performed by Procter & Gamble.

San Francisco -A cross-sectional survey of twins suggests that genetic effects are most important in the development of photodamage.

Maui, Hawaii - Canadian physicians in their fifth year of using a hyaluronic acid filler called Restylane can't help but smile -- and neither can their patients.

Orlando - To prevent pressure ulcers in long-term care facilities, clinicians and staff must adopt a multifactorial approach that accounts for everything from diet to patient movement to continence control, according to George Taler, M.D., C.M.D.

San Francisco - Recent advances in wound dressings, including the introduction of new moisture retentive dressings, the concept of sequential dressing therapy, and products mitigating the hostile wound environment, have been significant developments for enhancing healing of chronic cutaneous wounds, Tania J. Phillips, M.D., said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.

San Francisco - Diclofenac sodium 3 percent in hyaluronan 2.5 percent gel (Solaraze Gel) offers a useful alternative for topical treatment of actinic keratoses (AKs) in patients with multiple lesions, John E. Wolf Jr., M.D., said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.

San Francisco - The presence of leukoplakia in the oral cavity may be a harbinger of malignancy. Dermatologists must be able to identify these lesions and manage patients appropriately to help prevent a largely avoidable cancer.

San Francisco - Little scientific literature has been published about the use of alternative medicines for dermatologic purposes during pregnancy, but dermatologists need to be aware of at least two therapies that their patients may be using: a cream made from licorice root for the treatment of melasma, and a cream made from gotu cola that may prevent stretch marks, Scott M. Dinehart, M.D.. said.

San Francisco - Which drugs can be used safely used during pregnancy? According to Valerie Hanft, M.D., patients and their doctors can assess the risks of the many different drugs available over the counter and by prescription by first referring to the FDA pregnancy safety rating for the drug in question.

Bal Harbour, Fla. - Serious drug eruptions are rare; however, in their daily practice dermatologists are often confronted with symptoms, such as rashes, and might be confused about whether the causes are infection- or drug-related, Ronald C. Hansen, M.D., said at the annual Masters of Pediatrics Conference, hosted by the University of Miami School of Medicine.

Maui, Hawaii--Updated Soriatane (acitretin) label information will equip prescribers with the most current data about this systemic retinoid and enhance their ability to use it safely and effectively, Ronald W. Gottschalk, M.D., said at the annual Hawaii Dermatology Seminar, sponsored by the Skin Disease Education Foundation.

San Francisco - The majority of current treatments for bullous pemphigoid (BP) are not supported by evidence from solid randomized controlled trials, according to Emory University researcher Seaver L. Soon, M.D.

San Francisco - Monotherapy with tacrolimus 0.1 percent ointment (Protopic) is an effective and generally well-tolerated treatment for moderate to severe chronic red face, Wayne H. Fujita, M.D., said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.

While leaders of both political parties say they want to provide Medicare patients with meaningful coverage for prescription drug expenses, major philosophical differences threaten to make that objective extremely difficult to achieve.