Acne Breakouts – Pores can become clogged when sweat mixes with bacteria and skin oils. 

• Blot sweat from you skin with a clean towel/cloth and wash clothes, headbands, towels etc. before using again.  Use non-comedogenic which don’t clog the pore. 

Dry, irritated skin- Hot and humid outdoor air can have a dry effect on irritated skin, especially when spending time in the sun, pool and air conditioning.

• Shower immediately after pool activities using a mild cleanser or body wash labelled antibacterial
• Apply sun screen SPF 50+
• Take warm showers rather than hot showers
• Slather moisturizer after showering or bathing, moisturizer traps water in your skin

Folliculitis- Every hair on your body grows out of an opening called follicle.  When follicles get infected you develop folliculitis which look like pimples and become itchy and dry.

• Immediate change out of workout clothes and shower
• Stay out of tubs that contain high levels of acid and chlorine as some people develop a condition called ‘hot tub folliculitis. 
• Wear loose-fitting clothes in hot and humid weather

Melasma- Being in the sun can make those brown patches on your face more noticeable

• Wear sunscreen daily SPF 50 or more even on cloudy days
• Wear a wide brimmed hat and sunglasses whilst outdoors
• Choose gentle skin care products and avoid waxing as it can cause skin irritation which can worsen melasma

Heat rash- blocked sweat glands cause this and because the sweat is trapped it builds up under your skin causing a rash and tiny itchy bumps.

• To reduce the risk, do anything that you can to stop sweating profusely
• Wear light weight, loose fitting cotton clothes
• Exercise outdoors during the coolest parts of the day or workout indoors
• Try and keep you skin cool by using fans, cool showers and air-conditioning

Sun allergy- You can develop hives (allergic skin reaction) when in the sun, your skin will be red, scaly and may have extremely itchy bumps.

• Take certain medications, check with your pharmacist or doctor
• Wear sunscreen SPF 50 or more, wear sun protective clothing and seek shade

Sunburn- Getting sunburn can spoil summer fun and increase your risk of developing skin cancer

• Apply sunscreen that offers broad-spectrum protection, SPF 50+ and water resistance
• Wear a rash shirt when swimming

Wear a wide-brimmed  hat, sunglasses, long sleeves and pants when possible and seek shade

The post SUMMER IS APPROACHING AND WE NEED TO TAKE EXTRA CARE OF OUR SKIN appeared first on SkinDoc.

A diet focused on high-quality lean proteins, fibre, healthy oils, raw fruits and vegetables, and spices is best for supporting healthy skin.  These foods tend to contain high-quality amino acids—the building blocks for firm skin—plus anti-inflammatory and antioxidant-rich ingredients that promote optimal skin metabolism and defence against environmental stressors.

One of those stressors is free-radical damage, “which can weaken your skin’s immunity and break down its metabolic functions. This causes skin to eventually become uneven, and it loses that effervescent glow we’re always seeking out.” It can also trigger inflammatory reactions that destroy collagen, resulting in thin, wrinkled, and blotchy skin.

Best foods for healthy skin:

• Carrots, apricots, and other yellow and orange fruits and vegetables.
• Spinach and other green leafy vegetables.
• Tomatoes.
• Berries.
• Beans, peas and lentils.
• Salmon, mackerel and other fatty fish.
• Nuts.

The post Superfoods for glowing skin, according to dermatologist appeared first on SkinDoc.

BDD is a condition where the sufferer is preoccupied with an imagined defect, or a slight imperfection, in their appearance. So far from what we know, genetics and a chemical imbalance in the brain appears to play a role in the development of body dysmorphic disorder. The condition generally starts in adolescence or early adulthood. The average age of onset is approximately 16 years of age.

Men and women both appear to be affected by BDD with near equal frequency. However women tend to be worried about the appearance of their legs and breasts whereas men are more likely to worry about the size of their muscles. Believing that they’re not muscular enough.

BDD sufferers often seek treatment from dermatologists and cosmetic and plastic surgeons in an effort to reduce their perceived ugliness. Many people do not get appropriate treatment (be it cognitive behavioural therapy and/or medication) as they are too embarrassed and ashamed to tell their doctor they are so worried about some aspect of their appearance. Some people with BDD will have cosmetic surgery and, even if the surgery would be considered successful by the average person, they may not be happy with the outcome and even go onto have further procedures on the same area.

Cosmetic surgery is popular worldwide, and Australia ranks in the top 10 countries spending the most money. In 2017, Australia hit the billion-dollar mark where they spent $1 billion on cosmetic surgery.

Interesting Facts:

• The total number of procedures in Australia in 2018 was 202,642.
• Australians are spending the most money on anti-wrinkle injections, followed closely by dermal fillers.
• Spending $1 billion on cosmetic surgery, Australia spends more than 40% than the US per capita. (Australian College of Cosmetic Surgery)
• The top 5 cosmetic procedures carried out are anti-wrinkle injections, fillers, laser and IPL, breast augmentation and reduction, and liposuction (Australian College of Cosmetic Surgery).

The post Body Dysmorphic Disorder in Persons Who Undergo Aesthetic Medical Treatments appeared first on SkinDoc.

Yes.  People with spring allergies are not immune to coronavirus.  If you typically have allergy symptoms, pay close attention to their type and severity – do you feel differently than in prior allergy seasons?

Do you have a fever, aches, or a sore throat?  Does your cough or sneeze feel different than it usually does?  Have you noticed that your allergy medicines are not helping reduced or relieve your symptoms?  It’s important to stay vigilant about what your body is telling you.

What Are Tips For Allergy Sufferers During Coronavirus?

These allergy tips will be even more important this spring due to coronavirus:

• Sneezing: Like always, if you are sneezing, cover your sneeze in a tissue (and then throw the tissue away into a bin or closed container), sneeze into the corner of your elbow, or wear a mask.

• Allergy Medicine: Take your allergy medicine early and consistently.  For instance, start using an allergy nasal spray 2 weeks before the allergy seasons starts, or take an antihistamine daily once the season starts.  Over the counter products, available from your local pharmacy should be your first line of defence for

• Allergies and are typically sufficient for most people.  Of all years, it is particularly important to treat spring allergies because your allergy symptoms may be misconstrued as coronavirus.  Being aggressive and proactive in your allergy treatment is extremely important.

• Pollen Counts: Spring allergy symptoms spike with pollen counts.  Pay attention to the pollen counts in your area, and that may help you figure out if your symptoms are due to seasonal allergies or coronavirus.

• Know Your Sneeze:  Typically, allergy sneezes occur in bouts where you just can’t stop sneezing.  People with coronavirus are typically not experiencing a not-stop sneeze.

• Stay At Home:  If you are not sure, please stay at home just to be safe.

What If People Think My Spring Allergies & Sneezing are Coronavirus?

One of the best ways to give yourself peace of mind about whether you could have coronavirus will be to take your allergy medications consistently.  If your symptoms go away and you don’t have other coronavirus symptoms, you are not likely infected with coronavirus (although a lot of people are asymptomatic).  When frequenting public places, it may be a matter of common courtesy to treat your allergy symptoms so that people don’t misconstrue your sneezes and coughs as coronavirus.

The post Allergies vs Coronavirus: How to tell the difference? appeared first on SkinDoc.

Men are more likely to experience more severe infection from COVID-19 than women. Men are more likely to have chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

Men’s immune system is not as robust as women’s immune system. These factors may be indirectly influenced by sex hormones.

Baldness was more common in patients with COVID-19 admitted to hospital in Madrid, Spain. This study of 122 males showed 79% were bald which is double the population frequency.

Male pattern baldness is strongly associated with higher levels of dihydrotestosterone DHT, the active metabolite of testosterone. It has been proposed that higher levels of DHT could lead to more severe COVID-19 complications.

How does DHT increase the risk of more severe COVID-19 infection?

SARS COVID-19 2 enters human lung cells when a protein on the virus’s surface called the spike protein attaches to a protein receptor, ACE2 receptor on the surface of human cell.

An enzyme called TMPRSS2  cleaves the SARS-COVID-19 2 spike protein allowing it to bind to human ACE2 receptor. This allows the virus to enter the cell.

The gene that encodes TMPRSS2 is activated when DHT bind to the androgen receptor on cells including hair and lung cells.

Therefore if there is more testosterone present, there is more testosterone binding to its receptor and there is more TMPRSS2 present and therefore more virus entering the cell.

Therefore men may be more susceptible to COVID-19 infection and suffer more severely course of disease than women who have lower levels of androgens.

It would be interesting to know if lower levels of androgens in patients are associated with lower risk of COVID-19.  Several clinical trials are undergoing trials to determine if androgen reducing drugs reduce complications of COVID-19 in men.

Children under 10 are much less likely to suffer effects of COVID-19 both boys and girls as they produce very little androgens.

To read more of the above article please see The Conversation by Professor Graves https://www.ausdoc.com.au/opinion/why-baldness-linked-coronavirus

The post Why baldness is linked to coronavirus infection. appeared first on SkinDoc.

Hi All

As medical practitioners in Australia we have noticed an alarming number of people are ignoring symptoms and signs of potential fatal cancers during COVID-19 pandemic. The number of people who are seeing the general practitioner has dropped substantially since March 2020.

For example the number of lung cancers that have been diagnosed since March 2020 has dropped by 50% according to the CEO of Lung Foundation Australia Dr Christine Jenkins.  This means that there are more than 1000 Australians living with undiagnosed lung cancer. About 12 700 Australians are diagnosed with lung cancer each year and 9000 people die each year.

A new campaign ‘Persistent cough? Don’t wait. Investigate for national radio in all major cities  in Australia has recently been launched.

Similarly as we will possibly see a rise melanomas as people are not presenting to their local doctors. The number of cases of melanomas expected to be diagnosed in 2020 is projected to be 16 221 of which 9480 cases will be male and 6741 will be female. Melanomas make up 11% of all new cases of cancer in 2020. The estimated number of deaths of melanoma in 2020 will be 1375 of which 891 will be male and 484 will be female.

What are the commonest cancers in Australia? In order of prevalence:

1. Breast cancer

This is the commonest cancer. It does not only occur in women. Men make up about 1% of cases.

1 in 8 women are diagnosed each year with breast  cancer. There are about 20 000 cases a year annually. Here are the commonest cancers in Australia in descending order of prevalence

• Prostate cancer
• Melanoma
• Colorectal cancer
• Lung cancer

General practitioners have noticed a significant decrease in the number of patients presenting to their GPs. This is surprising given the fact Medicare Australia has quickly implemented telehealth item numbers for all doctors initially for GPs and more recently for specialists.

Therefore I would advise my patients not to ignore any symptom or sign by seeing their local doctor. If the local doctor cannot diagnose you using telehealth you will be seen face to face. Please check with your local doctor.

Children and COVID-19

Children are typically the last in households to develop COVID-19, suggesting they can be infected but are rarely an index case for an outbreak, researchers say.

A Swiss study of the country’s first 40 children under 16 years known to be infected with COVID-19 has found 80% were from families with at least one other person infected with the virus.

However, in only 8% of households were the children the first to develop symptoms, the researchers wrote in Pediatrics.

An accompanying commentary by paediatricians at the University of Vermont, US, said the results suggested “children most frequently acquire COVID-19 from adults, rather than transmitting it to them”.

Keep healthy, happy and stay safe.

Kind regards

Dr Jennifer Yip and SkinDoc Team

The post Cancer Rates and Covid-19 appeared first on SkinDoc.

It has been reported to occur in up to 20% of COVID-19 patients. Skin signs are not specific for COVID-19 infections.

What are the skin signs of COVID-19 in simple language?

1. Chilblain-like redness on the fingers and toes (perniosis)
2. Red network rash (livedo reticularis) usually on the arms and legs
3. Red viral rash on the body or arms or legs similar to chicken pox (varicelliform exanthema)
4. Tiny red dots or bruise-like rash (petechiae or purpuric eruption)
5. Hive-like rash (urticarial)

Interestingly there have been reports of increased frequency of male pattern hair loss with COVID-19.

In children a rash resembling Kawasaki disease has been seen.

No doubt we will learn more about the skin manifestations of COVID-19 as time goes.

If you will like to read more about the skin manifestation please visit our website www.skindoc.com.au and follow the links

https://www.dermcoll.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/COVID-19_Skin-Signs-visual_FINAL-V5.pdf

https://www.dermcoll.edu.au/covid19updates/practical-advice-for-fellows/

The post Are there any skin signs of COVID-19 infection? appeared first on SkinDoc.

Several professional and patient organizations include the Australasian College of Dermatologists, American Academy of Dermatology and the National Psoriasis Foundation in the United States have individually issued statements that biologic therapies are not discontinued except in patients with active infections.

The current data on COVID 19 viral infection does not suggest patients who are on biologics are more susceptible to infections. Dermatologists worldwide do not consider biologics as immunosuppressive drugs and our view has not changed since the start of theCOVID-19 pandemic.

It is reassuring to know that in pivotal trials there was no marked increase in infections (viral or upper respiratory tract) in patients on biologics for psoriasis or atopic eczema.

In summary, the overall risk of respiratory infections in patients on  biologics were comparable with the rates in patients on placebo in most published studies. The benefits of continuing on a biologic are likely to outweigh the risk of loss of response when treatments are recommenced after a period of cessation of the biologic.

If you are on a biologic medication for psoriasis and you wish to know more please contact our surgery.

The post Should Biologics for Psoriasis be interrupted during COVID-19 pandemic? appeared first on SkinDoc.

Your safety remains a high priority to us and we are monitoring the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak closely. We will continue to uphold our high clinical standards and sanitisation standards/protocols during this pandemic.

We are doing everything we can on our end to ensure that we are following the government protocols to minimise the risk of spreading the COVID-19 virus,

• this includes implementing social distancing in our surgery; we are only allowing one patient in the waiting room at one time
• We ask all UVB patients and all other patients to call us when they arrive at the surgery to let us know that they are here to have their treatment or for their consultation appointment and to wait in their car for their turn.
• We ask of parents who are bringing in their child for consultation, to only bring in the child to be seen and have only one parent present in the consultation room.
• We would like to remind patients that we do offer biologic script to be posted via registered post and we can now also offer all other non-authority scripts to be posted via normal post to minimise traffic into our surgery.
• We are wiping down all surfaces, UVB machines, door handles, desk tops and chairs and etc. with antibacterial wipes.
• We have provided hand sanitisers for all our patients to use

We are doing all we can but we also ask for your help in minimising the risk and ask you to advise and inform our reception staff of any health concerns that you have and/or experiencing any flu/cold like symptoms prior to visiting us.

We ask the following patients to self-isolate and stay at home for 2 weeks and reschedule their appointment it they have:

• travelled overseas , have been in a cruise ship or have come in contact with someone who has travelled overseas recently,
• And / or are experiencing any of the flu and cold like symptoms or have come in contact with someone who has been confirmed COVID-19 positive.

We are now also offering Telehealth and Skype consultation for our immune suppressed patients and the elderly or nursing home patients, this is available to those who are;

• On biologic treatments for conditions such as; psoriasis, hidradenitis suppurativa and etc.
• Patient who are at the age of 70 and over
• Patients who are pregnant and/or caring for a child under the age of 12months
• Or those that have been advised to self-isolate or have come in contact with someone who has been positive of having COVID-19.

For all telehealth and skype consults, new referral and follow up consult fees will still apply as per normal, that is; new referral fee is $255 and follow up fee $165.

Skype and Teleheath is now in place for those who wish to stay at home. You will still need to have an appointment time booked and have a current referral, payment will be made over the phone via EFTPOS. When you are next we will call and consult via either phone or skype.

However, if you have any suspicious lesions that could be a melanoma or a skin cancer, you will still need to attend the clinic and we will not be able to have a Skype consultation.

If you have any questions or concerns please call us on 9602 5785. Or email us via info@skindoc.com.auDr Jennifer Yip

The post Important information from SkinDoc and an Update on COVID-19 and our Practice. appeared first on SkinDoc.

Patient Alert

If you have ANY of these symptoms:

• Fever
• Cough
• Sore throat
• Shortness of breath
• Other symptoms of flu-like

AND

• Travelled to (including transit through) mainland China, or travelled to Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea or Thailand in the 14 days before getting sick

OR

• Had close contact with someone diagnosed with or suspected of having coronavirus in the 14 days before getting sick.
•  

To protect staff and other patients you will be advised to rebook your appointment.

Please ring us to reschedule your appointment for 2 weeks time.

We appreciate your understanding and co-operation in this matter.

The post Coronavirus Update appeared first on SkinDoc.