Eczema and the National Eczema Association In their June, 2016 newsletter the NEA published results of a patient survey collected in January, 2016 concerning patients’ eczema therapy. There was no indication of how many patients were involved nor how the survey was conducted. But the outstanding negative results must be discussed. Be that as [...]
Hippocrates lived in the 5th century BC and is credited with warning physicians, First do no harm. Many centuries later William Osler taught, One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine. In a war of ideas it is people who get killed. This [...]
Because it is the easiest, most abundant, and readily accessible, changing our diet is sought after as a remedy by an astounding number of patients suffering from an astonishing array of diseases. This is especially true of the TSA/TSW/RSS patient who have run the gamut of deleting foodstuffs from their diet. The mind of [...]
In countless entries on Facebook, the Internet, and in private conversations the suffering addicted and withdrawal RSS patients report endless lists of foods, medicaments, potions and oils that they have tried in futile attempts to relieve their suffering. Advice came to these patients from friends, practitioners, gurus and various soothsayers. The reality is that none [...]
Woolf and Harris, family medicine practitioners from Virginia and North Carolina, wrote an article on the harms of screening tests in the Journal of the AMA in 2012. I now quote their first two paragraphs to make a point about so many tests that the RSS patients unnecessarily go through. Medicine is a science, [...]
Sir William delivered the below extemporaneous remarks to a group of medical students over 100 years ago; yet they still resonate with us a century later. “There is a strong feeling abroad among people that we doctors are given over nowadays to science; that we care much more for the disease and its scientific aspects [...]
Sherwin Nuland MD, a recently deceased and famous Yale University surgeon wrote many books, essays and commentaries. My most favorite commentary was published several years ago in the American Scholar. I cite it here so that I can direct the RSS patients to the appropriate caregiver who will understand the problem and will make the [...]
In my experience many of the Red Skin Syndrome people who had atopic dermatitis or eczema as their underlying problem exhibit several episodes of severe redness followed by a calming whitening of the skin and a diminution of the dilated vessels. They typically have less edema and less oozing and less symptoms of itching and [...]
Protopic and Elidel ointment and creams are immunosuppressive drugs that are topical forms of cyclosporin. In examining the studies published in the dermatology journals supporting their efficacy, minimally statistically significant data was presented, yet this was enough to gain FDA approval and permission to market the products. One can bear grief, but it takes [...]
Not every Red Skin Syndrome begins with atopic dermatitis eczema and the overuse of steroids. Over the years I have treated a group of patients who have developed red skin syndrome after prolonged use of topical steroids on various skin problems other than eczema. They reacted in the same manner as the much more common [...]
