Foreword from the Editor-in-Chief

Our latest issue of Dermatology Collection comprises a selection of dermatology articles we consider among the most important published in Medicine Today since 2020.

Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, with keratinocyte cancers being the most common type. Our lead article highlights key changes in Cancer Council Australia’s 2019 updated guidelines on diagnosing and managing these cancers.

Discoid, or nummular, eczema is a chronic form of dermatitis characterised by well-defined circular plaques. Read about its clinical variants, differential diagnoses and management.

Two articles focus on paediatric dermatological conditions. The most common types of birthmarks are reviewed. These can range from the small and harmless to those that are large, causing cosmetic or functional impairment, or those indicating an underlying abnormality or malignancy. And read about childhood infectious rashes and infestations and the key to their diagnosis and treatment-decision making.

Folliculitis is another condition that can be infectious, with numerous subtypes that vary in aetiology, presentation and management. Besides infection, other triggers of folliculitis include trauma, medications and underlying disease.

Finally, test your diagnostic skills in a case of an acute generalised blistering eruption and a case of persistent pruritic purple papules first appearing on a woman’s back and hands. What are the diagnoses?

Professor Gayle Fischer OAM, MB BS, FACD, MD
Clinical Professor of Dermatology at Sydney
Medical School – Northern, The University of Sydney,
Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW.