Associate Professor Greg Goodman

Australia Day Honour for dermatologist

Associate Professor Greg Goodman has been recognised in the Australia Day honours list with an AM for significant service to medicine, to skin and cancer research, and to education. Associate Professor Goodman, from the Dermatology Institute of Victoria and the Skin Health Institute, is an accredited Moh’s surgeon for the management of skin cancers. He also has particular interests in acne and acne scarring, lasers and cosmetic dermatology. He founded and is president of the Australasian Society of Cosmetic Dermatologists.

Skin check campaign

Australia’s National Skin Check Day (ANSCD) on 25 February is being promoted by the charity and lobby groups Mates Against Melanoma. The group hopes the day will raise awareness of the important of regular surveillance for melanoma and other skin cancers and encourage the general public to book an appointment with their GP, skin check doctor or dermatologist for a skin check.

Epidermolysis bullosa and bone health

Patients with epidermolysis bullosa have a high prevalence of  osteoporosis and osteopenia, according to researchers from the University of NSW. A review of 72 EB patients found the prevalence of osteopenia was 50% in those with less severe disease, while osteoporosis was found in 75% of people with severe EB types.

Atlas of Black Skin

The Atlas of Black Skin is being recommended as an essential dermatology resource for managing patients with darker skin tones. The 240-page atlas authored by Michigan dermatologist Dr Ali Moiin contains over 800 high quality photographs and helpful insights for treating this patient population, according to a review by Dr Nicholas Van Rooij, of the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

Singles vaccine alert

The TGA has issued another safety warning about the need to avoid using the live zoster vaccine Zostavax in immunocompromised patients after a third case of fatal disseminated vaccine strain varicella-zoster virus infection in someone given the vaccine. The latest case occurred in a patient taking prednisolone and who had also recently been taking checkpoint inhibitors, who died a few weeks after receiving Zostavax. There is still no date as to when the non-live recombinant Shingrix vaccine will be available in Australia, and there is reportedly a limited global supply.