Getting A Base Tan? Getting a baseline tan before you go on vacation does not offer the sun protection you may think. In fact it probably will lead to a false sense of security and lead to longer exposure time. A baseline tan grants the average Caucasian skin a built-in SPF of about 2-4. You […]
The Fountain Of Youth?

Don’t Fall Prey To So-called Youth Elixirs
The fight against aging is nothing unique to our time.
Ponce de Leon landed in the New World and embarked upon a fruitless quest to find the Fountain of Youth. The first Chinese emperor employed alchemists to concoct mercury elixirs to grant him immortality.
Fingernails And Your Health


What Do You Know About Your Fingernails?
We paint them. Polish them. Trim and manicure them. Bite them. Run them down chalkboards. Our hands are intimate parts of our being and the nails are their crowning symbols. They broadcast our health, diseases, and personalities.
Shingles – The Virus, The Pain and The Vaccine


What Are Shingles?
If you are over 60, chances are that your doctor has immunized you with the shingles vaccine or counseled you to get it. At least that is what the folks at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta hope will happen. But even the best laid medical plans go awry in our world of managed care, cost shifting, and vaccine phobia.
Dispelling the Myths of Rosacea

Suffering From Rosacea? Are you a flusher? A blusher? Tired of that chronic redness on your face or your adult acne? You may very well have a treatable condition called rosacea. Rosacea, or the “Curse of the Celts” as it is historically known, tends to plague those of northern European heritage unequally higher than other […]
Chronic Itch – Important Tips to Stop the Itch

It is said that “chronic itch is the skin equivalent to pain.” Itching disrupts sleep, limits your activities, diminishes your concentration and generally is quite maddening. We will scratch, claw and tear up our skin to satisfy that annoying itch sensation. It is poorly understood by modern medicine but the burden on patients is very […]
Moles And Cancer – Are Your Moles Melanoma?

So You Think Your Moles Look Fine? You have heard the message by now: Melanoma is deadly. You also probably know that it is the fastest growing cancer in the United States and that one American every hour dies from melanoma. Millimeter for millimeter, it is the deadliest cancer. Rather than bore you with statistics […]
The Truth About Baldness

As P.T. Barnum said, “There is a sucker born every minute.” Perhaps nothing speaks better to the validity of this than the multi-billion dollar industry for hair loss. We are all suckers for our hair. It defines us. We groom and style it to communicate different messages to others. We color, twist, braid, clip, and […]
Some Thoughts About Skin Care for Men

I see men in my office every day. Most come in under their own volition while many are dragged in by wives and girlfriends. We don’t like to admit it, but we have many of the same skin concerns as women: odd-shaped blemishes; hair in the all wrong places; skin ravaged by the passage of […]
“…Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite.”

We’ve all seen the headlines detailing how bedbugs are storming back into our lives. From posh five-star New York hotels to the creepy motel down the street, no establishment seems immune to invasion.