Volume 6, Number 4

Richard Staughton MA MB BChir FRCP Consultant Dermatologist; Christopher Bridgett MA BM BCh FRCPsych Consultant Psychiatrist, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London

The central thesis of this article is that repeated surface trauma to the skin is the single most significant amplifying factor in atopic skin disease (ASD). Whatever the initiating immunopathological or allergic trigger event for itching in eczema, it is the 100–1,000 daily scratching events that can change acute eczema into a miserable chronic condition. If such predominantly habitual scratching can be significantly reduced, the skin will heal.

Julie Bowman, Editor

If you want to find out the nation’s opinion on any subject in the universe, use public transport. Forget about ethics committees, methodologies and the like, buy a bus ticket on a route that passes a hospital. Listen carefully as passengers, unfettered by edicts on confidentiality (and slander laws), give their views on the NHS and its staff – and be very afraid.

Stephen Wright FRCN MBE Associate Professor, Faculty of Health, St Martin’s College Lancaster and Chairman of the Sacred Space Foundation

So many chronic skin problems prove difficult, if not impossible, to resolve through conventional treatments. At best, we are simply caught up in managing them and trying to ameliorate their worst effects.

Rachel Heard BN (Hons) RGN PGCE ENB 237 Macmillan Clinical Nurse Specialist – Skin Cancer, Skin Oncology Service, University Hospital of Birmingham NHS Trust

This article will attempt to outline the possible nursing interventions of a skin cancer clinical nurse specialist. Although the focus here is on providing a specialist nursing service to patients newly diagnosed with melanoma, there are many generic concepts that can be applied to any nursing service in both the community and hospital setting.

Fiona Lewis BN (Hons) RN Dip Infection, Control Nursing Community Infection Control Nurse, Sherwood Health Centre, Nottingham

Scabies is at epidemic levels nationally and as an Infection Control Nurse working in primary care, I am sure I am not alone when it comes to dealing with this mite on a seemingly daily basis. Despite these epidemic levels, it is still a highly emotive ‘bound to make you scratch’ diagnosis. The majority of the cases I see are in elderly people in nursing and residential homes.

Nicky Crannage RN Dip Bsc Hons ENB N25 D01 870 A29 Dermatology Surgical Nurse Specialist, Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust

Nurse-led surgery within dermatology is not a new development – it has been done elsewhere in the UK by such practitioners as Gill Godsell at Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, and Paula Oliver at Worthing and Southlands Hospital. This article will discuss the processes required to introduce nurse-led surgery to a dermatology department, outlining its implementation within Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust and highlighting points to consider and the benefits and risks involved.

Peter Lapsley, Chief Executive, Skin Care Campaign

The Skin Care Campaign (SCC) is unique in the medical world. It was established by the National Eczema Society (NES) in 1992 to oppose the second Selected List, a government device for having certain treatments made available only on payment over-the- counter, rather than on prescription. Many treatments for skin diseases are vulnerable to such cost-cutting measures and the financial implications for people with skin diseases – and especially for the parents of young children with skin diseases – are potentially very serious.

Sue Crofton BSc MSc UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, Wembley, Middlesex

Vitiligo can have a major impact on self-esteem. I can remember many occasions when I have felt a mixture of anger and inadequacy because someone stared at me or asked inept or invasive questions about my skin. In this article, I discuss my experience of vitiligo and how, with psychotherapy, my understanding and response to it
has changed.