Managing skin health in women

Contemporary OBGYN:

Please introduce yourself and outline some clinical pearls on skin health in women.

Toby Maurer, MD:

My name is Toby Maurer and I'm a dermatologist working in San Francisco and globally throughout many countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Central Asia, and Bangladesh. It's been a pleasure to be here at the Christmas cruise, going to various markets in this very picturesque place, and speaking with many of our colleagues. My background is in both family medicine and dermatology, and as a result, I like to really connect the dots between primary care providers and dermatologists. So, it's been my pleasure to speak with our colleagues about some of the most common dermatologic diseases that we see in women, and those include diseases like rosacea, eczema, tinea, particularly of the nails. We discussed some autoimmune and inflammatory conditions of the skin, including vitiligo, alopecia areata. So, these are the more common things that we've seen, discussing some of the treatments and pitfalls of treatment and some common tips. For example, keeping areas of the skin very dry that might be prone to Candida, fissures of the skin, and mullions, how to use them on the skin to prevent dryness and itch.

Contemporary OBGYN:

What is the clinical importance of crazy glue?

Maurer:

So, with regard to fissures of the skin, we often see that in patients who are menopausal or in the transition of menopause, and they often have dry skin on their hands and feet, resulting in fissures or deep cracks. Crazy glue is an agent that was developed for the skin to glue the skin together, but as I was telling the audience, didn't sell a lot as a skin glue. So, it was kind of abandoned in the medical profession. It's a great glue to put the skin together. You put a little bit of crazy glue right in that fissure, hold it together, and then you only need to apply it every 2 days. But it really is excellent for putting that fissure together and decreasing the pain that so often is felt by patients who have these deep cracks.