Skin Disorders Basics

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• QHow can I protect my children from skin injuries?

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  A Reston Hospital Center answered

  To help your children avoid skin injuries, you can take a few preventive steps:

  • Do not leave cooking items on the stove, and turn pot handles away from the stove.
  • Keep hot items and liquids away from children.
  • Do not let your children near space heaters.
  • Do not smoke in the house; be sure not to smoke in bed.
  • Set your water heater no higher than 120 degrees F.
  • Keep household chemicals locked away from children.
  • Keep children at a distance when loading or unloading diswashers.
  • Keep knives, razors, tools, glass, and other sharp or breakable items out of the reach of children.
  • Keep children away from paper shredders and any household appliances that have sharp blades or generate heat.
  • Make sure mirrors and framed pictures are out of children's reach or firmly attached to a wall.

  If your child does sustain a burn, be sure to treat that burn as soon as possible to avoid infection. You can treat a burn by cooling the skin and applying antibiotic ointment. More severe burns require professional treatment.

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• QHow can stress cause skin problems?

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  A Ben Kaminsky , Dermatology, answered

  In a study at Johns Hopkins Medical School, Dr. Francisco Tausk and his colleagues sought to establish the link between stress and skin cancer. While acute (short-term) stress actually boosts immune function, chronic (long-term) or daily stress appears to interrupt healthy skin function. Evidence emerging within the past several decades suggests that emotional states such as depression, worrying, hostility, and psychosocial stress directly influence both body function and health.
  
  As we learn more about the brain-skin interplay, we now believe that our mental state is highly related to skin function in humans. Along with skin cancer and premature skin aging, a large number of chronic skin diseases, including acne, rosacea, and atopic dermatitis, appear to be precipitated or exacerbated by psychological stress. This assumption was confirmed in findings published in the July 2003 edition of the journal Archives of Dermatology, when Dr. Susan Chon and colleagues at Stanford University concluded that emotional stress influenced the severity of acne. While this connection had been long suspected (even now, don’t you often see a pimple during particularly stressful times?), these researchers found that patients with acne experienced a significant worsening of the skin disease during times of increasing external stress.
  
  Other dermatological studies have concluded the same: psychological stress has a significant and detrimental effect on treatment outcome in those individuals with problem skin.

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• QWhat is a Wood's light exam?

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  A Reston Hospital Center answered

  In a Wood's light exam, the doctor uses an ultraviolet light to check your skin for infections or other disorders. Vitiligo can be diagnosed by its appearance, and a Wood's light exam can help the doctor distinguish between differences in areas of the skin. It can also help detect pigment disorders like vitiligo in fair-skinned people because the ultraviolet light makes differences in pigment (melanin) easier to see.

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• QHow is skin injury diagnosed?

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  A Reston Hospital Center answered

  Because there are many kinds of skin lesions, it can be difficult to tell whether one is a result of a skin injury or a disease. In order to make this decision, doctors consider your family and health history, occupation, exposure to sunlight or radiation, drug use, and travel.
  
  If your doctor still cannot diagnose your skin injury, he or she may take a biopsy, a section of the skin lesion for testing, or skin scrapings. A black light may also be used to check for some diseases.
  
  To diagnose a burn, a doctor will likely ask you about your symptoms and the experience that allowed you to contract the burn. The doctor will also examine your skin. If the injury is severe, your doctor might also need to determine how much of your body is burned and how it might have affected the rest of your body.
• QHow do I care for someone after surgery for phimosis?

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  A Reston Hospital Center answered

  Circumcision can be a traumatic experience, involving bleeding, pain, weeks of recovery time, and risk of complications. You should be available to provide both emotional and physical support. Pick out loose-fitting underwear and pants for him to wear. Make sure he takes the prescribed painkillers on schedule every day. Ensure that the penis is cleaned daily to prevent the wound from becoming infected, and change the dressing. If he has any bleeding in the day after surgery, have him apply pressure to the area gently for 10 minutes. Ice packs may also be used for pain and swelling in the day after surgery in 20-minute applications. He should avoid vigorous exercise while healing. Remind him not to pull off any scabs that might form, even if they become itchy and irritating.
• QWhy do I get sun spots?

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  A Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD , Cardiology (Cardiovascular Disease), answered

  Sun spots are areas of damaged skin that occur as a result of your body's defense mechanism against the sun. When exposed to UV rays, your skin produces more pigment (melanin), making it darker. This layer of dark skin forms to protect the deeper layers from further damage. When the higher level of pigment bunches together instead of spreading out evenly, the result is freckles, splotches and spots.

  Use a sunscreen and wear protective clothing to safeguard your skin from the sun's harmful rays.

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• QAre sun spots benign?

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  A Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD , Cardiology (Cardiovascular Disease), answered

  Usually, yes. Sun spots are benign most of the time, but you should consult a doctor about any irregular changes to your skin. It's never safe to assume a spot or mole is benign. Likewise, check with your doctor before beginning any treatment or therapy for sun spots.

  Use a sunscreen and wear protective clothing to safeguard your skin from the sun's harmful rays.

• QWhat natural sun spot remedies can I try?

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  A Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD , Cardiology (Cardiovascular Disease), answered

  Lemon juice applied twice a day is a common home remedy. But be extra careful when in the sun: The lemon juice will make your skin more sensitive to UV exposure, so remember to cover up and don't forget to apply plenty of sunscreen. Use a sunscreen and wear protective clothing to safeguard your skin from the sun's harmful rays.

• QAre there any ways to get rid of stretch marks?

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  A Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD , Cardiology (Cardiovascular Disease), answered

  I'm sorry to say that it doesn't appear that any topical treatments can eliminate stretch marks. A lot of damage takes place when the dermis tears and irritation ensues. There is some evidence, however, that daily massage may help prevent marks in the first place, so ask your mate to give regular rubs to the most common places where stretch marks appear—your abdomen, thighs, and breasts (we're guessing he won't mind a bit). Using cocoa butter or vitamin E as the massage cream has been reported anecdotally to help, but the research is limited.
• QWhat is xerosis?

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  A Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD , Cardiology (Cardiovascular Disease), answered

  Xerosis is a dry skin condition caused by a decrease in the water level in the stratum corneum, or the outermost layer of skin. Since that outer layer depends on a specific, minimum level of moisture to keep it functioning properly, a decrease in this water content can lead to flaking, scaly, dry skin that is rough to the touch.