Towards the end of July, the British Medical Journal published an educational article on Body Dysmorphic disorder. [BMJ 2015; 350: h2278]   What is this? The article was written by Dr David Veale, a Consultant Psychiatrist in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy at the South London and … [Read more...] about Body Dysmorphic Disorder

At the time of writing this blog, the family has just returned from its first ever camping trip (outside of the back garden!). On one of the obligatory dog walks by a river near the campsite, we noticed we were surrounded by triffid-like cow parsley, towering over us to over two metres in height. My … [Read more...] about Seen the giant cow parsley?

Being the summer, many of us are thinking of, planning towards or heading imminently off on our holidays. Last week, a father of a longstanding paediatric patient of mine with difficult to manage, widespread, chronic eczema placed me with his conundrum.   Standard advice in eczema is the … [Read more...] about Fun in the sun with eczema

Towards the end of May of this year, scores of patients started turning up to clinic clutching pages torn out of newspapers reporting the advent of a novel drug to successfully treat … [Read more...] about A new drug to treat melanoma!

On April 9th 2015, the Daily Mail published an article stating that £13 million of NHS prescriptions were for suncreams, implying that patients were abusing the system by obtaining prescriptions for household items and that these prescriptions were an unnecessary drain on the … [Read more...] about Prescription sunscreens

At the time of writing this blog, we’re having the first lovely bright, clear and sunny days of Spring and it feels absolutely wonderful after all the long, dark days of winter.   Traditionally, this time of year heralds the beginning of busy days for dermatologists. This is because everyone … [Read more...] about “Do you do mole mapping?”

On February 23rd, the eagerly awaited results of the LEAP study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.   [Du Toit G, Roberts G, Sayre PH et al. Randomized Trial of Peanut Consumption in Infants at Risk for Peanut Allergy.   N Engl J Med 2015; 372:803-813.]   What’s the … [Read more...] about The findings of the LEAP study

It’s March and the hayfever season is almost upon us. It is the time of year that those with seasonal hayfever, or allergic rhinitis dread. There has, however, in recent years been increasing use of allergen immunotherapy (AIT) as a treatment for those with disabling allergic rhinitis. This has … [Read more...] about Immunotherapy in the treatment of eczema

I had the opportunity the other day to choose between taking the bus, catching a taxi or walking to work and I chose the latter option in an attempt to be healthier. After puffing and choking through giant clouds of exhaust fumes for the duration of the 20 minute walk, I started wondering whether it … [Read more...] about Does city pollution contribute to skin ageing?

You would perhaps be not surprised to know that dermatologists see a lot of itchy patients. For that matter, I find that most people actively start itching when they hear that I am a dermatologist!   You may, however, be surprised to find out that not all itching is accompanied by a skin rash … [Read more...] about I’m so itchy!