Trends in the use of topical over the counter products in the management of dermatologic disease in the United States.

Background: Over the counter (OTC) products play an important role in treating and preventing disease in the U.S. Topical OTCs are widely used but use in dermatology is not well defined.

Recruiting underserved populations to dermatologic research: a systematic review.

Recruitment of participants to dermatologic research studies can be challenging, particularly with historically underserved populations. Recruitment of these groups is essential to ethical, valid, and useful dermatologic research. This article discusses findings from a review of 78 studies that examined factors influencing participation in health research studies with an emphasis on underserved populations, particularly women and ethnic minorities.

Review of home phototherapy.

Background: Outpatient phototherapy is a safe, effective, and low-cost treatment modality for moderate to severe psoriasis. Barriers to outpatient phototherapy including patient inconvenience, patient co-pays, decreased physician compensation, and insurance disincentive structures have led to decreased use and underutilization of phototherapy. Home phototherapy can potentially overcome many of the barriers associated with outpatient treatment but is not widely used because of concerns over safety and efficacy, lack of resident and physician education, and lack of insurance coverage.

A review of home phototherapy for psoriasis.

Background: Phototherapy is a mainstay in the treatment of psoriasis and other photoresponsive dermatoses and home phototherapy has broadened therapeutic options.

Purpose: To describe the history of home phototherapy, the technological advances in the safety and efficacy of the equipment available, and the associated issues of cost, convenience, adherence, and quality of life.

Methods: We conducted a literature review of home phototherapy, broad-band UVB, narrow-band UVB, and PUVA phototherapy using PUBMED.

Dermatologic medication adherence.

Human behavior is directly related to the development of various skin disease conditions and to the effectiveness of skin disease treatment regimens. Adherence research studies have demonstrated abysmal adherence to topical treatment of common skin disorders, opening new opportunities for improving skin disease treatment outcomes. The treatment of skin raises unique issues in environmental exposures, psychosocial human interactions, biology, and pharmacology.

Ultraviolet tanning addiction.

Behavioral studies of ultraviolet light exposure behavior have provided insight into motivations for tanning, which include not only the desire for a tanned appearance but also the physiologic response to ultraviolet light. Many frequent tanners continue to tan despite knowledge or personal experience of adverse consequences. Efforts to reduce tanning behavior need to account for the interplay between physiologic effects of tanning and psychosocial drives behind tanning behavior.

Tanning as an addictive behavior: a literature review.

Background: Recent studies have identified reinforcing properties associated with tanning and suggest a possible physiologic mechanism and addiction driving tanning behavior.

Objective: This article attempts to synthesize the existing literature on tanning and addiction to investigate possible associations.

Methods: We investigated a variety of substance dependence models to define what constitutes dependence/addiction and to determine how current studies on tanning meet these criteria.