Doctors and Health Care

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Dangerous Bacteria May Lurk in Hospital Sinks

Hospital germ detectives say the sinks next to toilets in patient rooms may harbor potentially dangerous...
Medical Scribes Could Help Improve ER Care

Using medical scribes in emergency departments is a smart way to increase the number of patients...
Delaying Baby’s First Bath May Bring Benefits

If you want breastfeeding to go smoothly, you might want to ask the hospital to delay...

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Do Paramedics Shortchange Women With Heart Trouble?
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Are You Living with Psoriasis?

A growing knowledge of the skin disease called psoriasis is leading to greater treatment choices, including personalized therapies, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports.

Psoriasis is an immune system disorder that causes overproduction of skin cells, resulting in scaling, pain, swelling, redness and heat. The condition affects about 7.5 million Americans.

“As we better understand the disease, researchers know more about what specific factors to target in order to develop effective treatments,” FDA dermatologist Dr. Melinda McCord said in an agency news release.

There is no cure for psoriasis, so the main goals of treatments are to stop skin cell overproduction and reduce inflammation. Current therapies include medicines applied to the skin (topical), light treatment (phototherapy), or drugs taken by mouth or given by injection.

Doctors used to take a step-by-step approach, starting patients with mild to moderate psoriasis on topical therapy. If that was ineffective, doctors moved on to phototherapy or drug treatment.