skin and health

I can tell what my 3-year-old daughter has been snacking on because it’s visible all over her precious face. Would you be surprised to learn that the telltale signs of what you have been eating – or avoiding – are equally noticeable just by looking at your face? It’s true. Dermatologists explain that our skin is a window into our overall health and can show clues of what’s going on under the surface.

Cosmetics is a multibillion-dollar-a-year industry with limited regulations. The FDA lacks the power to approve products or an ingredient used in cosmetics and has not specifically determined what is “safe.” Because compounds placed on the skin can readily be absorbed into the body, is this something to be concerned about?

With concerns about the H1N1 swine flu and other infectious diseases, many schools are adding hand sanitizer to their list of required supplies this year. But this policy leads to several questions: What should we look for when selecting a hand sanitizer? Do these products really work? If they do work, will using them create drug-resistant organisms?

No doubt some of you have seen concerning e-mail reports of children becoming gravely ill after ingesting hand sanitizer. I have two school-aged children, and I decided to find the answers before I set out to buy our school supplies.

According to the National Psoriasis Foundation, psoriasis is the most commonly diagnosed autoimmune disease, affecting 7.5 million Americans and 125 million people worldwide. The skin disease is associated with other potentially serious conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, and psoriatic arthritis.

We talked with 2 leading dermatologists to learn more about the disease.

Skateboard pioneer Andy Kessler died earlier this week from an allergic reaction to an insect sting. His death is a dark reminder of the dangers that insect stings carry.

Severe allergy (considered potentially life threatening) to insect stings are quite rare and occur in less than 5% of the US population. According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, at least 40 people in the US die each year from insect stings.

Skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer annually, so it is appropriate that we continue to identify the best treatments possible. But when it comes to actually preventing skin cancer, we mostly know only about the basic rules – use sunscreen, stay out of the sun, wear long-sleeved shirts and wide-brimmed hats, etc. 

But dermatologists can offer effective topical skin cancer preventives that find and destroy precancerous cells, stopping the disease in its tracks before it takes hold. These noninvasive therapies not only prevent potential cancers from developing, they may also soften lines and wrinkles at the same time. 

There has been extensive media coverage of recent studies linking vitamin D deficiencies to many common conditions and diseases, including cancer, osteoporosis, elevated blood pressure, infection, and cardiovascular and autoimmune disorders. The principal source of the vitamin is unprotected exposure of the skin to the sun’s UVB rays – the kind that also cause sunburn, premature aging of the skin, and skin cancer.