From the editor
From the Editor
Dr. Schwarzenberger is the former physician editor of DermWorld.
By Kathryn Schwarzenberger, MD, Physician Editor, September 2, 2019
Last month, we introduced you to digital marketing. Many of our younger members already use their websites and social media platforms to successfully manage and highlight their practices. For some of us so-called “paleoderms,” however, the prospect of creating and maintaining an online presence can be rather daunting. Hopefully, that article tempted you to at least consider the possibility of going digital, if you have not already done so! This month, Assistant Editor Emily Margosian discusses the value of setting social media goals. She also provides helpful tips on publishing high-quality social media content. Some of these tips are obvious (don’t publish out-of-focus photos), but others (don’t spam your followers) may be less intuitive. While our tips can’t guarantee your social media success, we can try to help you avoid embarrassing (and potentially harmful) social gaffes. And while all of us are overwhelmed by rules these days, we would be remiss if we didn’t address important regulatory and compliance issues regarding social media. Please read our section on HIPAA compliance before you post your first image, and make sure your staff and employees know and follow the rules. Oh, and did you know that the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) standards also apply to medical practice websites? (I had no idea) Read Legally Speaking this month; our legal eagles discuss your obligation to help ensure that your practice website is accessible to persons with disabilities.
Back in the 1980s, I went through four years of medical school and two years of residency without ever seeing a case of syphilis. Then one day, I got a call from our emergency department, where another resident was seeing a woman with perfect “copper pennies” on her palms and soles. Fortunately, I recognized it from the description (the other resident spent the next 15 minutes frantically scrubbing her hands...), but I missed it the next time I saw it, when presented with a rather nondescript papulosquamous eruption. Syphilis simply wasn’t on our radar back then but is once again a mainstream infection worthy of diagnostic consideration. Since that first case of scaly palms and soles, I have seen patients with many of the diverse manifestations of lues, even neurosyphilis. My skills as a syphilologist likely still pale in comparison to that of our predecessors. However, I do at least keep the possibility of syphilis front and center when evaluating my patients. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did the fascinating tour of the history and resurgence of syphilis this month.
This story reminds me never to be complacent when dealing with infectious diseases. We create potent antibiotics, only to be met with ever-increasing drug resistance — this is true even in yeast, with the new and very scary multidrug-resistant Candida auris gaining a foothold in hospitals. We thought we had tamed measles, only now to consider it when called to see a child with a fever and a rash. In the past, we were comfortable that the “maculopapular rash” was simply a benign viral exanthem or drug rash. Now we must consider if the child in front of us needs respiratory isolation and a call to the local public health authorities. Old diseases are new again, new diseases emerge, and — with changing patterns of disease — we see old diseases in new places. I watched Lyme disease spread into Vermont in the early 2000s; I personally reported about five of the 50 cases documented in 2005. In 2017, over 1,000 cases were reported in the state. Medicine is ever fascinating and always humbling. But what a joy to practice.
