The field of dermatology has advanced over the years and improvements have been made. The dermatology world can do more for your skin with less invasive procedures. These innovations can make a world of difference in the appearance of your skin.
Melanoma
This is the skin cancer that we all hope to prevent or catch in the early stages. Skin cancer is usually first noticed as a pigmented lesion. Dermatologists can often visualize the difference between cancer spots and spots that are non-cancerous, by shape and color and size changes over time.
Confocal Microscopy – However, there is a new technique, confocal microscopy, that can help provide high-resolution images at the bedside. It can help reduce the need for benign lesions.
Photo-acoustic tomography (PAT) – is another way to get 3D images that can absorb light and convert it to a manner that is visualized in ultrasonic waves. It can reveal the lesion’s depth, which helps with prognosis.
Raman Spectroscopy (RS) – is another technique that uses vibration spectra of molecules to determine the components of the skin layers. It can measure skin hydration, lactate, and even retinol.
Other Advances
Daylight Photodynamic Therapy – This type of therapy can deliver low-level activation of protoporphyrin rather than fast activation with pulsed dye lasers. It is pretty much pain-free and natural daylight is a better light source, because it includes relevant absorption wavelengths. This type of treatment is great for age spot removal or hyperpigmentation on the skin.
Picosecond lasers – These lasers are used mostly for tattoo removal and are extremely impressive in their ability to treat the hardest to remove blue and green colors.
Home-use fractionated lasers for skin rejuvenation – These miniaturized lasers can be used at home for self-treatment. They are smaller versions of the doctor’s office lasers, but can be used safely in the comfort of your own home. They show to be just as effective, if used once or twice a week.
Crisaborole – This new topical cream is highly effective at treating atopic dermatitis, which severely affects the quality of life of children who are diagnosed with this disease. Those who have used this cream have found that it is safe and that it has lessened the severity of atopic dermatitis in children and its associated ADHD symptoms.
PD-1 Drugs – Cutaneous cancers have been very aggressive in the cancer world; however, a new group of drugs, known as the programmed death 1 (PD-1) drugs are successfully treating patients with advanced cutaneous cancers, including melanoma and Merkel cell carcinoma.
Coffee and Rosacea – New studies show that patients with rosacea do not need to restrict coffee consumption, as in the past. There is no association between rosacea and coffee (caffeinated or decaffeinated), which should be an exciting breakthrough in the dermatology world.
Allergic Contact Dermatitis – A new study shows that those suffering from facial or eyelid dermatitis may have been affected due to involuntary transfer from acrylates found in artificial nails. Patch testing for acrylates may be the answer to those infected with this disease.