This month’s cover story profiles The Eczema Center at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. This standalone facility that sits adjacent to the hospital is dedicated to providing comprehensive, multidisciplinary clinical care to pediatric patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis and to offering extensive education to the families of these patients. It also operates a dedicated research center.

This center, the first of its kind, is staffed by five dermatologists, including specialists with expertise in such areas as atopy syndrome, chemical sensitivities in the skin, and use of systemic therapies in severe eczema. A nurse care coordinator, an RN clinical research coordinator and a foundation liaison also help manage day-to-day operations and outreach activities.

Contributing Editor Bonnie Darves interviewed some of the staff and the parents of patients at the center to get an idea of how this facility was set up and how doctors and patients are benefiting from it. The doctors involved are assessing the clinical success of the center’s dedicated approach through a ongoing 3-year study, but co-director Dr. Lawrence Eichenfield says the anecdotal evidence is very positive. Patients and staff agree that the concentrated effort that combines clinical expertise with disease education is better equipping patients and their families to manage eczema, which can improve their quality of life. “We’re not sure which interventions will be the most effective, but what we do know now is that patients and families can’t be taught how to manage eczema in a 5-minute office visit, and that education must be intensive and ongoing to be effective,” Dr. Eichenfield told Skin & Aging. Turn to page 28 to read “A New Approach to Managing Atopic Dermatitis.”

Congratulations to Skin & Aging Contributors

We would like to congratulate our Gold Triangle Award-winning authors, who were recently honored by the American Academy of Dermatology for their contributions to public education about dermatologic issues.They include:

• Contributing Editor Bonnie Darves, for her article, “Indoor Tanning: Confronting The Hype” — on issues related to the tanning industry’s advertising campaign targeting dermatologists.

• Joseph Stanfield, for his feature, “New Sunscreen Labeling: Breakthrough or Burden?” — on the FDA’s proposed four-star rating for sunscreens.

• Pediatric dermatologist Robert Buka and medical student Jessica Simon for their Pediatric Patient Care column “An Update of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus “ — on the widely publicized MRSA epidemic.

• Dermatologist Richard Fried, who is also a psychologist, for his article “Visions of Beauty” — on helping cosmetic patients to “see” better results.

To read any of these articles, visit the archives at www.skinandaging.com.

Sincerely,

Stefanie Tuleya,
Executive Editor
stuleya@hmpcommunications.com