After hiding our feet in heavy socks and boots all winter long, we can now rejoice that it is finally sandal season! . But are your tootsies a little funky after a winter of neglect? Maybe they’re a bit smelly, or your skin is rough and cracked, or you may even have a case of… Continue reading 5 Steps to Great Summer Feet
Tag: infection
Advice from a Dermatologist: Treating Cold Sores At Home
Cold sores – small blisters on the lip or around the mouth – are surprisingly common. According to the American Academy of Dermatologists (AAD), more than half of Americans age 14 to 49 have the virus that causes the sores. If the virus reactivates, or “wakes up,” the AAD says, you could get the sores.… Continue reading Advice from a Dermatologist: Treating Cold Sores At Home
How to Avoid Lyme Disease This Season
Lyme disease, communicated by an infected deer tick, is the most commonly reported “vector-borne” [i.e. passed from a non-human organism to people) illness in the country. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC), infections occur most frequently in the months of May through October. But despite the huge amount of publicity Lyme disease… Continue reading How to Avoid Lyme Disease This Season
Diabetics: Protect Yourself from Teeth and Gum Problems
Diabetes brings with it a host of health problems, but it’s often overlooked that one of those issues can cibcerb teeth and gums. According to the SeniorHealth division of the National Institutes of Health, diabetics can be more liable to tooth and gum problems if their blood glucose stays higher. Why? Because glucose is present… Continue reading Diabetics: Protect Yourself from Teeth and Gum Problems
Better Care Needed for Sepsis Patients
Health-care practitioners need to provide more individualized care to patients who have suffered sepsis so they won’t have to be readmitted to a hospital, researchers said. A study published in JAMA looked at data from 2,6000 survivors of sepsis, a critical illness that shuts down internal organs following an infection. About 42 percent of the… Continue reading Better Care Needed for Sepsis Patients
Surprise! Fat Cells Below the Skin Protect Us from Sepsis
In a paper published in the January 2nd 2015 issue of Science, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report the surprising discovery that fat cells below the skin help protect us from bacteria. Richard Gallo, MD, PhD, professor and chief of dermatology at UC San Diego School of Medicine and… Continue reading Surprise! Fat Cells Below the Skin Protect Us from Sepsis
A New Discovery About a Wonder Drug
Researchers have discovered a new way in which the wonder drug penicillin fights infections. Penicillin, discovered in 1928, works by attacking enzymes that build the bacterial wall cell. Once the medicine gets through that wall, the bacteria die. Over the years, though, resistance to antibiotics has developed and is now a serious health threat. But… Continue reading A New Discovery About a Wonder Drug
Skin Patch to Heal Diabetic Foot Ulcers
A foot ulcer is a painful inconvenience to most people, but to a person with diabetes it could mean an infection, or worse, an amputation. However, a research team at Stanford University School of Medicine has developed a drug delivered through a skin patch that not only helps foot wounds heal better, but also prevents… Continue reading Skin Patch to Heal Diabetic Foot Ulcers
Good Contact Lens Care = Good Eye Health
So many of us (30 million, actually) wear contact lenses that it’s easy to think of them almost as a natural part of the eye—and something that doesn’t need a lot of our attention. But while contacts are usually safe and effective, they do carry some risks, including serious infections, if you don’t care for… Continue reading Good Contact Lens Care = Good Eye Health
A Major Effort Needed to Fight Sepsis
Sepsis – a blood infection that can lead to organ failure and death – is just as important a research subject as heart disease or pneumonia, according to health experts from the University of Michigan Medical School. Although sepsis isn’t as well-known as heart disease, the experts say, it now affects more hospital patients, and… Continue reading A Major Effort Needed to Fight Sepsis
Need to Know: Pink Eye
Although pink eye, or conjunctivitis, affects some very delicate areas of your eye, it’s one of the most treatable eye conditions. Here, the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) shares what you need to know about pink eye: its symptoms, how to prevent it, and when you should seek treatment. WHAT IS PINK EYE? An… Continue reading Need to Know: Pink Eye