There seems to be so many new therapies and treatments in dermatology these days. I guess the pharmaceutical and laser companies realized the huge demand in America for healthy and young skin. My staff and I are always reading about these new therapies and attending national and international meeting about them. I will try to summarize many them for you and will continue to do so every 3 months.

Psoriasis has been a major problem worldwide for thousands of years and until recently most treatments were only marginally effective. We now have 5 new injectables called the “Biologics”. They are very safe and effective. With much effort, dermatologists have gotten insurance companies to pay for these therapies. The ultraviolet light box therapies have been improved with the “narrow-band UVB boxes”. The Excimer laser can target psoriasis lesions even more effectively. Add these to our regular armamentarium for psoriasis and we now have a good chance to clear most people’s skin lesions.

We are always looking for effective treatments for acne scars, wrinkles and sun damaged skin that are not too expensive and have minimal healing time. The latest group of lasers to promise this are called the Fractional Lasers. In our office we have used 4 different types of these lasers so far and our patients are very pleased with the results. Each laser seems to be better for one or more of these skin problems and so we tailor a patient’s treatment based on their skin type and severity of problem. One laser gives 0 down time, one causes a day of redness and one causes 3-5 days of redness. All that is needed for any of these lasers is 45 minutes of a numbing cream applied to the skin before the treatment. There is no pain involved.

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