Since the beginning of our restrictions (curfew) in Austria, 10 days have passed. Life has changed and very much was new and unfamiliar, and for almost all of us, this period seems not to end. On Friday (March 27th, 2020), the Austrian government did not announce a tightening of the existing rules!

Please follow the currently existing rules, because the time after Corona will come! It will come even sooner, the more we watch for ourselves.

In the meantime, we are here for your concerns of your skin.

Precaution measure are enforced unchanged to take care of you in person.

Despite some contradictory information regarding rejected patients by doctors’ offices, we continue to be here for you!

The risk of a covid 19 infection cannot be excluded anywhere, however, the risk of infection in private offices is very low considering the low frequency of patients. Moreover, to ensure your safety, temperature is measured and travel history questioned for each entry into the office.

Dermatologist Dr. Okamoto treats urgent skin diseases

Therefore, you should not leave a disease that required urgent treatment in general. These conditions that require urgent treatment are among others:

• painful alteration of the skin (such as shingles)
• sudden reddening of the skin (such as borreliosis)
• sudden alteration of the skin with fever (such as erysipelas)
• wide spread flash or rash (such as drug induced rash or allergic reactions)
• suspicious moles

The delayed diagnosis and treatment can lead to severe consequences.

Please take care of yourself and keep well!

Office still in operation

Due to the current situation, we would like to inform you that the office is still in operation. In case of a break, you will be informed on this homepage. Should you think you might be infected by the Covid 19 virus, please call 1450 and do not leave your home!

Patients with one of the following characteristics should be cautious (according to AGES):

• persons older than 60 years of age
• persons with high blood pressure, diabetes, heart diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases or cancer
• pregnant women as in severe courses, medical treatment is not available

Following links offer serious information to this topic and to the current situation:

https://www.ages.at/themen/krankheitserreger/coronavirus/

https://www.sozialministerium.at/Informationen-zum-Coronavirus/Neuartiges-Coronavirus-(2019-nCov).html

https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

European consensus-based interdisciplinary guideline for melanoma recommends sequential dermatoscopy and full-body photography (total body scan)

A recent publication in the scientific journal European Journal of Cancer confirms the role of sequential digital dermatoscopy and full-body scan (total body scan) for early detection of melanomas in high risk individuals. The device is 1,5m apart from the patient and can detect changes of moles from the distance: a helpful feature nowadays.

Melanoma of the skin causes 90% of all skin cancer deaths. In a recent publication by a multidisciplinary collaboration of the European Dermatology Forum (EDF), the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO), and the European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) based on systematic literature review and esperts’ experience confirms that sequential digital dermatoscopy and full-body photography (total body scan) can detect early melanomas in high risk individuals.

You can find the article here: https://www.ejcancer.com/article/S0959-8049(19)30833-0/fulltext

The full text as a PDF can be downloaded here: https://www.ejcancer.com/article/S0959-8049(19)30833-0/pdf

Further information on sequential digital dermatoskopy and full-body photography (total body scan)  can be found here:

https://www.dermatologistvienna.com

https://www.dermatologistvienna.com/medical-services/mole-check-with-bodyscan/

Today, another article about water warts (molluscum contagiosum) was published. The article can be found here: https://www.netdoktor.at/krankheit/dellwarzen-9090275

What are water warts?

Water warts (molluscum contagiosum) are round, small nodules with a central dimple. They are self limited in principle, however, water warts (molluscum contagiosum) are infectious and can spread on the skin of the affected person as well as others, who had direct or indirect contact with the infected person. Water warts (molluscum contagiosum) are usually symptom-free, except the alterations on the skin, but sometimes, they can be itchy as well.

Are water warts contagious?

In the latter situation, one is tempted to scratch, spreading thereby the infectious content of the warts on the hands and surrounding skin.

You can find further information here: Warts

Molluscum contagiosum are small, up to a few millimeters of size, skin colored warts with a central dimple and may occur singularly of in groups affecting a single body site up to wide spread on the entire body. These warts are caused by a virus called poxvirus and can release hundreds of thousands of virus particles when squeezed or violated, spreading the viruses and causing new warts.

The warts themselves are not harmful to the health of the carriers and can even remit by itself. However, spontaneous remission is not reliable and other people can be infected with the virus if not treated. If someone touches such a wart, disinfection of the hands is recommended to avoid spread of the virus.