Academy Of Dermatology Poster

A physician, Tim Berger, presented a poster at the recent March, 2017, Academy of Dermatology meeting. In essence he implies that he discovered TSA, TSW and RSS with the caveat that these patients itch. It is evident that he never saw any of the patients, since this was only a survey from the internet. The poster was based upon survey information gathered in a very unscientific manner but made to look good with statistics. Poor data in gives poor data out. The reference section failed to mention my 37 years in personally treating, managing and curing 4000 patients. Nor did he cite my published papers.

Self-aggrandizement and plagiarism have no place in medicine especially when it brings to benefit to the suffering patients. The survey was conducted by an organization that continually asks for donations. This money could be better spent getting medical care for patients rather than telling us that they itch. This doctor needs to find another field to attain fame.

Questionable points made in the poster:

The National Eczema Association saying that this entity is rare.
Money spent to tell us that these patients itch
MDs avoiding citing past literature – a detriment to the care of patients.
Continual requests for donations when all that is needed is medical care for these suffering care and the cessation of steroids.

By Dr Marvin Rapaport, MD|2021-10-19T03:16:46-07:00April 17th, 2017|RSS Patients|Comments Off

About the Author: Dr Marvin Rapaport, MD

In 1978 I initiated and set up the contact and photo dermatitis clinic at UCLA. There was a need to evaluate a large group of patients who exhibited severe eczematoid rashes, especially on the face. Patients were referred from all over Southern California. All patients underwent a lengthy history and examination. Further evaluations included blood studies, allergy patch testing, special sunlight (photo) testing and skin biopsies. From the start it was apparent that most patients experienced a mild dermatitis on various parts of the body that progressively worsened. Their histories always included numerous doctor visits, multiple physicians, and therapy consisting of an increasing amount of corticosteroids. My testing failed to reveal any specific culprit chemicals, cosmetics, perfumes, workplace or recreational exposures. It became increasingly clear that the physician’s therapy, the corticosteroids, was invariably causing the problem. I wrote 7 scientific articles that were published in the most august peer-reviewed dermatologic journals and I gave many lectures at various dermatology meetings. To this day an unfortunate reluctance exists on the part of most physicians to accept this simple concept.