Volume 9, Number 6

Angela Forsyth MB ChB FRCP Consultant Dermatologist, Contact Dermatitis Investigation Unit, Glasgow Royal Infirmary

There is much in the literature about latex allergy and the dramatic effects that this can have on health. In addition to the latex component, rubber also contains processing chemicals which are capable of causing a dermatitis reaction in their own right. This dermatitis reaction is by no means life-threatening, but it can be dramatic in the effect it has on the life of the sufferer. Topical steroids do not completely suppress contact dermatitis reactions, and so avoidance of the allergen is the best form of treatment that is available at the present time.

Barry Monk MA FRCP Consultant Dermatologist Bedford Hospital

The 1950s were a golden age in medicine. The antibiotic era had seen the arrival of penicillin, erythromycin, streptomycin and isoniazid, all in the space of little over a decade, and with them the virtual eradication of many deadly infections. Viral disease appeared to be the last barrier, yet research into antiviral agents was unrewarding.

Robert PE Sarkany MRCP MD Honorary Consultant Dermatologist, St John’s Institute of Dermatology, London

For many doctors, the porphyrias are rare and obscure diseases whose main significance lies in their ability to bewilder medical students in exams. However, in reality, the porphyrias are not rare, and a simple practical approach to their management can avoid the pitfalls they pose to the unwary clinician.

Roopa Prasad MBBCh MRCP Specialist Registrar, Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff; Andrew Y Finlay FRCP Professor of Dermatology, Department of Dermatology, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff

Rashes affecting the flexural areas are not unusual, but many common conditions may be altered in their appearance due to hyperhidrosis, maceration or friction. This article looks at neurofibromatosis, psoriasis, eczema and some rarities as causes of flexural rash.

Alun Evans BSc MRCP Specialist Registrar, St John’s Institute of Dermatology, St Thomas’ Hospital, London

Rosacea was first described in the 14th century by the French physician Guy de Chauliac in his famous manuscript Chirurgia Magna. The condition is also mentioned in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Shakespeare’s Henry V. The 15th century painting The Old Man and his Grandson by Ghirlandaio, which now hangs in the Louvre, also depicts the classical clinical features. Management of the condition at this time centred around blood letting and the application of leeches to the affected areas.

Nick J Levell MD FRCP Consultant Dermatologist, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital

‘Our opinion against the increase of specialism, especially against the narrow specialism of dermatology, is well known. Specialists can not as a rule be said to be among the best educated of the profession and the exclusive practice of some small speciality tends to perpetuate and increase ignorance, if it does not already deprave professional morals.’

Neil Cox, Editor

Like the flow of the tides altering the morphology of a shoreline, words and phrases with which we are familiar seem to gradually submerge and be replaced with new versions. This can of course be for eminently sensible reasons, appropriately reflecting things such as social or organisational changes. However, there seems to be an increasing acceleration of this process, more akin (to continue the tidal analogy) to the forces of winter storms than to gradual evolution.