Dermatology

The news this week from the floor of the commercial Exhibit Hall of AAP 2004 National Conference and Exhibition is that the most common allergic reaction has a cure. More than 55 million Americans develop allergic contact dermatitis from exposure to poison oak, poison ivy, or poison sumac (Toxicodendron species) every year. According to a report by researchers at St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network in Bethlehem, Pa., relief with the new soap product of alcohol solubles and anionic surfactants is just 30 seconds away.

Food can keep infants free of allergic disease. The right nutritional choices during the first four to six months of life can mean the difference between a healthy childhood and a progression of atopic disease that can lead to asthma.

With dietary vitamins having potent immunomodulating effects in vitro and in animal models, investigators were led to examine whether vitamin supplementation during infancy affects the risk of asthma and allergic disease in early childhood.

In this installment, the author helps you distinguish among vascular malformations, hemangiomas, and less common vascular tumors of infancy and identify the lesions associated with congenital syphilis. The first part of this article appeared in the July 2004 issue.

In this installment, the author helps you distinguish among vascular malformations, hemangiomas, and less common vascular tumors of infancy and identify the lesions associated with congenital syphilis. The first part of this article appeared in the July 2004 issue.

A 2-year-old boy was broughtto the emergency department(ED) with a burned hand.His mother reported that immediatelyafter the burn, sheplaced the injured hand undercold water. Soon after, a friendtransported the family to theED.

What role do environmental exposures play in the rising prevalence and severity of asthma? The authors examine the latest evidence and propose some measures pediatricians can take to protect their patients. Includes a Guide for Parents.

6-year-old has fever, headache, abdominal pain, and sore throat followed three days later by a rash on the hands and feet.

The daunting number and diversity of neonatal and infant eruptions, nodules, and other lesions that the author describes will readily submit to his novel algorithm for classification and identification.

As the attending on the community hospital's general pediatric service, you're called in this afternoon to see a 9-year-old girl who was admitted the evening before for chief complaints of a fever (axillary temperature, 102° F to 103° F) and cough of five days' duration. She has been observed to have a dry hacking cough, and broke out in a faint rash after admission. Can you solve this Pediatric Puzzler?

As the attending on the community hospital's general pediatric service, you're called in this afternoon to see a 9-year-old girl who was admitted the evening before for chief complaints of a fever (axillary temperature, 102° F to 103° F) and cough of five days' duration. She has been observed to have a dry hacking cough, and broke out in a faint rash after admission. Can you solve this Pediatric Puzzler?

I find that most parents who bring their children in for atopic eczema have woefully underlubricated the child's skin.

Because nickel allergy, which affects children of all ages, can cause severe contact dermatitis, it is important to identify sources of nickel on clothing and accessories.

An 11-year-old boy presented for evaluation of an itchy rash that developed during a ski vacation.

This 10-year-old boy presented for evaluation of a rash that developed during a spring vacation on Florida's Atlantic coast.

A 6-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy each presented for evaluation of an erythematous, pruritic, papular rash that developed after swimming in a Wisconsin lake.

His records convey that it's been a long and difficult four weeks of "decreased ambulation and increased irritability" for your new patient, a 3-year-old boy, that has led to his referral to the general pediatric service of your hospital for evaluation.

A 10-month-old infant was referred for evaluation of possible Sturge-Weber syndrome. According to his parents, the discoloration on the child’s face was present at birth. Physical examination revealed an otherwise healthy infant with extensive port-wine stains on his face. Ophthalmologic and neurologic examination findings were normal.

Valuable as they are, available vaccines have limitations, which keeps the search for new ones going. Here is a preview of what to look forward to in this corner of therapeutics.

You meet your patient late one evening in the emergency department: a 6-year-old boy comfortably asleep as his mother relates their day's events to you.

A 6-year-old girl, who went on a weekend trip with her family and stayed at a "famous" downtown hotel, awoke in the morning to find an itchy rash on her arms and legs. Several other family members had similar, but more limited, eruptions on exposed areas of skin. Topical steroids and antibiotics offered little relief.

Herpes simplex infection is often misdiagnosed. Here is a look at distinguishing features of type 1 infections and a review of associated disorders, diagnostic tools, and treatment options.

A buildup of cerumen can make it difficult to examine your patient's ears, but the wrong approach to cleaning the wax can cause even bigger problems. What's the right way to get rid of wax?

Once Thanksgiving 2003 passed, Congress grew anxious to adjourn; members prefer to spend the Christmas season at home, with family and constituents.

Pediatricians increasingly are recognizing a mandate to treat pain aggressively. Psychotropic drugs have new pediatric uses, broadening clinicians' options.

A 22-month-old boy is brought to you with an asymptomatic, linear scaly rash that developed on his right elbow four months ago. Two weeks after onset, the eruption had extended down his right arm to the top of the hand and onto the fourth finger.

Pediatricians increasingly are recognizing a mandate to treat pain aggressively. Psychotropic drugs have new pediatric uses, broadening clinicians' options.