Health Watch is a Public Service of the Office of News and Publications and is intended to provide general information only and should not replace the advice of a medical professional. You should contact your physician if you have questions about any of these topics.
This week on Health Watch, we’ve been talking about keeping your face looking good, whether through reversing aging with plastic surgery, preventing aging with sun block or treating acne. Some facial skin conditions may need more extensive treatment using ultraviolet light therapy.
This treatment can be used for relatively minor conditions such as acne or psoriasis, or it can be helpful for more serious conditions such as scleroderma or morphea — a hardening of the skin that can be disfiguring. There was some concern that this therapy would be less effective on darker skin, but Dr. Heidi Jacobe, a dermatologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center, found in a recent study that there’s no significant difference in outcome between patients with different skin types or colors. That means light therapy can be an option, regardless of skin type.
Visit http://www.utsouthwestern.org/dermatology to learn more about UT Southwestern’s clinical services in dermatology.
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September 2008
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