What dermatologic hazards are COVID-19 health care workers facing?
A recent JAAD study explores skin damage among COVID-19 front line workers from China. An online questionnaire administered from January to February 2020 asked health care workers about the condition of skin damage and the frequency or duration of several infection-prevention measures. The survey found that 97% of health care workers experienced skin damage caused by infection prevention measures.
The most commonly affected sites included the nasal bridge, hands, cheek, and forehead with dryness/tightness and desquamation the most common symptom (70%) and sign (62%). Health care workers who wore medical devices like goggles and N95 masks for extended periods of time experienced greater skin damage, although the extended wearing of face shields was not a significant risk factor for causing skin damage.
Complimentary live webinar
Register for the Academy's complimentary live webinar "Clinical Practice and Medication Guidance during COVID-19" taking place Friday, May 8 at 12 p.m. CDT. The webinar discusses managing a dermatology practice during the pandemic while providing an overview of the dermatology data registry to understand COVID-19-related skin manifestations with directions on the use of medications, including
biologics and nonbiologics. Register now!
DW Insights and Inquiries: Working up pernio — How far should you dip your toe in the water?
Dermatologists are rapidly becoming reacquainted with pernio (chilblains), given the increasing reports of pernio-like acral eruptions (and other dermatologic manifestations) occurring in association with COVID-19. This raises an important clinical question: Under normal (non-COVID-19) circumstances, what is (or should be) the proper workup (if any) for patients who present to the dermatology office with skin findings suggestive of pernio?
To try and answer this question, I reflected upon a patient I encountered during my dermatology residency. She was an otherwise healthy woman in her forties who presented acutely with painful, red-to-purple patches on her fingers. Since I was unable to provide a definitive diagnosis based upon her physical examination findings, I performed a skin biopsy. When I received the dermatopathology report “consistent with pernio,” I immediately wondered, “Why did I overlook this diagnosis?” Keep reading!
Novel topical acne treatment appears to be effective
According to a recent JAMA Dermatology study, clascoterone cream, 1%, appears to be safe and effective for the treatment of acne. Clascoterone cream, a new topical androgen receptor inhibitor, was tested in two phase 3 clinical trials in which patients were randomly assigned to clascoterone cream (1%) or a vehicle cream. After 12 weeks, the success rates with clascoterone cream were 18.4% and 20.3% versus 9% and 6.5% with vehicle creams, respectively. In both groups at week 12 there was considerable reduction of both noninflammatory and inflammatory lesion counts.
Emergency supply drive for front line COVID-19 workers
DW Weekly talked to Ronda Farah, MD, assistant professor in the department of dermatology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, about her efforts to collect emergency supplies for front line workers.
DW Weekly: Several weeks ago, it became apparent to you that PPE shortages would be a problem in your area for front line workers. Tell me about that.
Dr. Farah: A few weeks ago, at the beginning of March I was on social media and was seeing that doctors on the front lines in the emergency rooms were posting concerns that their hospital systems wouldn’t have enough personal protective equipment. Doctors and nurses at other hospital systems were reporting that the PPE had even been stolen. People were anxious about working and protecting themselves, their families, and their patients.
DW Weekly: You began asking businesses outside of medicine for masks. Tell me about that — how did you get started and where did you start?
Dr. Farah: I was wondering how I could contribute to this and as I was watching the national and daily briefings on the news a thought occurred to me: I just built a new house in 2015. I wonder if my builder has any extra N95s. I picked up the phone and called the builder who built my house and he said he had some extra masks. I asked him if he knew anyone else who had masks and he recommended the dry wall companies. This was at the point where the construction industry was encouraged to donate their supplies, but it wasn’t mandatory. I drove around and asked a couple of other painting and construction businesses and several places had supplies they could offer. At that point, I had about 60 N95 masks in my car. Keep reading!
National Academy of Sciences elects Angela Christiano, PhD
Last week, the National Academy of Sciences announced the election of 120 members and 26 international members in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Prominent skin and hair researcher Angela Christiano, PhD, Richard and Mildred Rhodebeck Professor of Dermatology and professor of genetics and development at Columbia University, was one of the newly elected members.
The primary focus of Dr. Christiano’s research is the study of inherited skin and hair disorders in humans and mice through a classical genetic approach including identification and phenotyping of disease families, genetic linkage, gene discovery and mutation analysis, and functional studies relating these findings to basic questions in epidermal biology. The goal of her team’s research is to develop genetic and cell-based therapies for skin and hair diseases through understanding disease pathogenesis.
First open-access papers published in JAAD International
This week saw the publication of the first research in the new JAAD International, which publishes original, peer-reviewed articles of interest to an international audience of researchers, clinicians, and trainees in all dermatologic subspecialties. The new research includes articles about dermatoses of the Caribbean, the prevalence of hidradenitis suppurativa in Ghana, and the pearl “Low-cost video dermatoscope using an inexpensive clip-on lens.” Read them now.
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