Dermatology Books

The book is a good reference on non-invasive methods and their applications in dermatology and cosmetics. It is comprehensive, although some of the topics are a little outdated, as they are the current research frontiers in non-invasive skin bioengineering. Still you can get a good starting point for any topic.
What is not so good about this book is that for the price, and the quality of the paper used in printing, one would expect a better typesetting. Clearer fonts, with a more careful arrangement of titles, subtitles and references. It almost seems that one just took a book printed in the early 80's and decided to reprint it. Or a print was done directly from Word.
Another issue is the quality of some of the graphics and photos. They could be better. Since this book has been published (or republished) recently, they should have updated the photos to a higher quality. In some cases it makes interpretation a little more difficult. In other cases, old photos of equipment and descriptions of outdated methods (image processing chapters are far behind current technologies) make the chapter less relevant.
To make the most of the material in this book, you will need some elementary physics and some notions of image processing and elementary optics. The book does not address any of this basic requirements, jumping to the point in most chapters, assuming this knowledge.
Still, this is a great resource as a starting point for those interested in research in this area. The editors are among some of the exponents in the field. I also recommend the series by H. I. Maibach.

This is a good BASIC dermatologic surgery book,(I am a dermatologist) but waaay too expensive for what it is. I own it but was a gift, and wouldn't pay more than $50

the videos accompany this book is on amature level, I hoped the auther(s) have spent a little more effort on providing a more proffesional videos, it's just like they have collected home made videos provided by multiple physicians

an encylopedic approach but a superficial survey - good introduction for a novice.

I paid for two volumes but only came the first volume. I was deceived.
I want the second volume or my money back.

Trying to purchase this two volume set through AMAZON was a DISASTER! The order was shipped and only one of the two volumes arrived. I returned the one volume and AMAZON reshipped the order. Again, only volume two arrived. I finally had to cancel the order with AMAZON and ordered it directly from the publisher ~ McGraw Hill Medical. AMAZON has not explained the basis for the problem, but McGraw Hill ships the two volumes together in shrink wrap. Somehow, the two volumes (which look identical except for the volume number) were removed from the shrink wrap and, in each case, only volume 2 was shipped by AMAZON.

We ordered this twice from Amazon. Each time, it came with only one of two volumes. When calling in to correct this, each time the assistant was unable to figure out how to get us the second volume, so we returned both first volumes and have not tried to re-order.

I have relied on this book for years to keep me up to date on the science and practice of dermatology. I was thrilled to be asked to write the chapter on cosmetics and skin care (ch 251) and counted the days until this edition was out. Once my book arrived I went to the website, entered my code and downloaded the book to my laptop. It is UNBELIEVABLE!!! You can search the entire 2 volume book for a search term in seconds. I can carry the book with me on my lap top to grand rounds, conferences and on airplanes. It is now my peripheral brain. Thanks to McGraw Hill for making it even easier on those of us who constantly write a need references at our fingertips. In addition- the illustrations are beautiful. If you are trying to decide whether to chunk your old one and spring for the new one- DO IT!

I had been looking forward to the new edition of Fitzpatrick after the announcements of new, updated format, improved web-content, etc. What a disappointment! Only part of the text is actually in the book, additional content only to be found on the web-version, which is both cumbersome to use (PDF version of the book rather than html with hyperlinks) and appears to deliver only part of what was promised (i.e. there is no way to copy the figures and paste into powerpoint). As a bonus, the entire text is littered with "e" symbols indicating additional e-only text, which makes for quite annoying reading and is just plain ugly.

The general unattractiveness of the layout is compounded by the 3-column design, which means that practically every word longer than 10 letters (i.e. most of derm nomenclature) is hyphenated at least once (often twice). Not the way forward for residents and practicioners alike, methinks. Figure quality is definitely below the Bolognia standard and after reviewing several chapters it is obvious that a lot of the material is duplicated throughout both volumes (amazingly, the same picture that looks fine in volume I will be off-color in volume II and vice versa, which is quite annoying in a field like dermatology, which relies heavily on visual clues).

If this is the future of textbooks, then I hope I will be able to get on without using any. In the meantime, I shall return my copy of Fitz and go with the new edition of Bolognia.

I have type 2 and 3 rosacea and read this book. I used the recommendations faithfully for only three weeks, because that is as long as I could stand my symptoms getting worse and worse. My lesions got bigger, and more itchy and weepy. I also had many other bad effects from the recommended diet, such as near constant gastrointestinal distress, headaches, skin problems starting to appear on my elbows, and the worst bout of PMS in years. That was some time ago.

The diet that has worked the best for me for my skin, with no bad side effects, was to reduce animal proteins in general, eliminate all dairy protein, and eat more fruits and vegetables and "plain" foods. My diet is now high in carbohydrates -- but low in processed foods and white flour. It is low in fat by American standards. This is pretty much opposite of what Brady Barrows prescribes. And none of this took "iron willpower" -- after a few weeks of avoiding the trigger foods, I no longer wanted them.

I have had only a small area of type 1 rosacea on one cheek now for over two years, and when I eat even better (practically eliminating white flour and animal foods, which I sometimes do for short periods), my one remaining lesion gets smoother. If I eat a lot of fatty foods or eggs/lean meat it tends to flare up. Caffeine has also been a trigger for me, so I limit myself to one or two cups of coffee a day and drink only caffeine-free sodas. I still take the precautions I always have, like protecting my face from hot shower water, steam from drinks, or cold air.

Some people have fruit and vegetable triggers, but I haven't found one yet. I thought I had a vegetable trigger because if I ate a lot of salads or broccoli it seemed to make my lesions break out more. However I finally discovered it was the dairy based dressings and cheese toppings that were probably doing it. I don't use those any more and have no problem with any vegetables, no matter how much I have.

Everyone is different. Try lots of different approaches, but give each one a good honest, 100% try for at least a week or two. If you go half-measures or "cheat" or don't try for long enough you won't really know. It is very much worth it when you find the right mix for you.

I got a few good concepts out of what I read. However, everyone doesn't have the same triggers, and I don't believe that this diet is a universal method to control rosacea. He did point out some good concepts though, and since I have browsed through the book, my own rosacea is more under control.

It frustrates me to see several reviews from people who read Rosacea Diet and dismissed it without even trying it. How can you review something you "didn't have the willpower" to try or something you just didn't want to do (i.e. Give up sugar)? Comparisons to the Atkins diet are bound to occur, despite the fact that Rosacea Diet is very different in that it allows NO sugar and FAR fewer carbs than the Atkins plan. I'm trying Rosacea Diet now and have seen drastic improvement in just 5 days. When you get past the first few days of adjustment and get over the fact that you can't eat sugar or grains, it's not that hard. I don't have any desire to eat sugar and I previously consumed large quantities of it. You focus on what you can eat and you eat only those foods. There's nothing hard about it...it has actually greatly simplified my life to have the enormous number of food choices taken away. This book has opened my eyes to the fact that sugar lurks in much of the food we normally consume, even products that claim to be "sugar free." I HIGHLY recommend purchasing Rosacea Diet. The book is giving me the power to conquer rosacea without spending thousands on doctor visits and prescription treatments that don't work.

Brady Barrow's rosacea diet has been around for a couple of years now. If you ever wanted to know what it was all about then hopefully this text will be of interest. So what do you actually get when you purchase a copy of the diet ? you get an outline of what foods are claimed to cause rosacea, and a suggested list of foods to eat. A couple of books are suggested as supporting information for the diet. Interestingly some dieting books, including an internationally well known diet is incompatible with the rosacea diet - being full of offending foods.

The text contains a full listing of suggested foods to eat for 30 days. The remainder of the text of the diet is a curious collection of email exchanges from the diet's creator and people interested in trying it.

Brady points out several times on his web site that his diet is hard to stick to. The foods that you are asked to give up won't kill you, but for sure it will take a significant amount of self control - especially for those used to a modern western diet. Brady is also clear in what he isn't saying. The diet is not claimed to be a cure. So given that it is difficult and not claimed to cure you, what does it have to offer you ?

Many have commented on the diets author's desire to charge for the diet. One could say that people will only really value something that has some cost. This argument works for the rosacea-support group at large - many learned people have posted useful information to the group, but as it has come at no cost to list members, the value is missed. The alternate argument is that if you pay for something, you want it to work, and when you pay for it, your perceived rights suddenly expand. As the amount asked for is small I don't see this as a real issue. To take this point further, if you read the diet, and the pages of comments on the web site, it represents a couple of years of answering the same questions for the diet's author. Anyone who charges such a small fee, and sticks at it for a couple of years must really believe in what they are doing.

I attempted to gain some feedback from anyone who has tried the diet. I collected 85 email addresses from the diet itself and the web site and asked them for any feedback. Given that the best possible result I could hope for would only amount to anecdotal evidence, I was interested in as much feedback as possible. Brady tells us that he has had more than 500 people try his diet. Although I have only tried 85 names, and over time email addresses spoil, it is at least a small sample from which to make some comments. From these 85 addresses I got 17 bounces, 1 said it made their skin awful, 6 never tried it in the end, 1 said it was too hard, 3 said it did nothing and 4 said that they had a good response and believe that the diet was what made the difference for them.

Whilst the feedback was quite small the 4 good responses are an encouragement that for some the diet is worthwhile.
Some of the positive comments :

"I'm very grateful to Brady. While I have never followed his exact menus, I have now been avoiding certain food groups, per his suggestions, for over a year. The difference in my skin is very noticeable. I still have to avoid sun and heat and irritating skin products, and I still take tetracycline - but I was doing all those things before Brady's diet and I still had large cystic bumps, swelling and pain. I have no doubt that following Brady's advice helped me."
   -- Rose

"I have been on the diet for a year now and I have found that not only does it control my skin problems but it is a healthy diet. Perhaps so many people have suffered from Rosacea because of the high carb, low fat diet most people consume. Perhaps, the rosacea sufferers body is finally exhibiting stress from all the sugar and highly refined foods most people eat on a regular basis, perhaps the liver is not doing it's job properly (cleaning the skin) because of a constant poor diet. The rosacea diet basically triggered my research into a whole new approach to eating..."
   -- Nicola

"I have tried EVERYTHING I could find, have spent countless dollars and time trying to find something to help this condition. Brady's diet is the only thing that gives me results over time. I have found some things have worked for limited amounts of time, but this is the only thing over time."
    -- Debbie

Brady has recently created an email group at Yahoo! Groups relating to his diet. Another positive comment can be found [online.]

Given that I haven't actually tried the diet (it would require an committment I'm not willing to give), and going by the handful of comments that it works for some really searching - it could have something to offer. Will it work for you ? Well if you are really keen and willing to stick it out then you have nothing to lose...

I bought this book with the best of intentions: to read it in its entirety and apply its suggestions of a 30 day Atkins-like diet. Disappointed, I found that the author not only had no obvious accredited medical background of any type but also realized that he had written this book solely based on his personal experience with his rosacea. This certainly didn't apply to me and the explanations of having a protein diet and eliminating sugar wasn't equally as comforting either.

Unfortunately, for us rosacea patients who are trying to figure out the complexities of our disease, all know that our own bodily functions cannot simply be treated by a 30 day diet which includes what most dermatologists would have acknowledged as rosacea trigger foods.

Secondly, the last half of the book are just emails between the author and those who applied the diet, so there is a lot of repetitive information.
The book would've been shorter if it just referred you to read the Atkin's book after you read the preface of the Rosacea Diet. And if your rosacea didn't clear up at least you would've lost some weight. Truly disappointed at the lack of knowledge and information that was not apparent in the book. I gave this book one star just so I could get this comment posted. Otherwise I don't think it deserves a star. There are better books out there that will highly recommend ways to self-analyze reactions, provide worthy explanations and nutritional diet based on your own personal profile with rosacea.

Ladies this book has some useful information, however most of the information is only helpful for those who have done little research.
This could be a good starting reference book. I did find a few things out I did not know and went to a few websites I had not considered. So for the used book price this book is worth the money.
Did you know that hair loss is one of the first signs of diabetes, and I wish this book had touched on this fact ( copyright on this book is 2000). I however, have not seen really any information other than on diabetes' websites that informs you of this and they have been updated.
He does give more possibilities than other books that were copyright dates of 2005 for natural supplements and diet. I can find hair restoration anywhere and don't think that should be so deeply covered in a book of hair loss. It should have dove deeper into diet, diabetes, and other causes.
I found the bald truth to be better than this book, it is by the same author.

This is an extremely superficial book on hair loss. You can find out more on the internet in about 15 minutes than you can by reading this book. Nearly half of the book is devoted to transplants, wigs, etc. rather than talking about WHY people lose hair and what can be done about it short of these drastic measures. So many women suffer from hair loss that is treatable and this book does not offer any real help or advice. Stick to the internet and the wealth of knowledge available on hair loss sites.

Although I liked this book, I already knew most of the information that it contained. I was somewhat disappointed that the book did not have many specific recommendations for hair loss products, i.e.: dosages, amounts, application procedures. The book also spent way too much time discussing hair transplants which are not an alternative for most women due to diffuse hair loss and unstable donor sites. The book gives far too few doctor recommendation and once again, the doctors recommended were mostly hair transplant specialist. If you are a beginner to female hair loss, you will probably find this book helpful as it does contain good basic information. I, myself, was disappointed.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. This book has given me hope after months of heartache and frustration. My doctors have not helped me at all, it seems like all they know about is Rogaine and nothing else.

I now have the knowledge I need to seek out alternative and new treatments that have never been mentioned to me before.

Not only do I recommend that every woman reads this book, but every doctor treating women for hair loss should read it too, you may just learn something!

After reading this book I can tell you this, Stanley Kobren is certainly no expert on hair loss, but he is good at making his readers fall asleep. The book has no meaningful insight and most of the information is written mostly on a grammer school level. Don't even waste your time reading this book if you're serious about avoiding hair loss.

I'm realy disappointed one more time as this is my second book I buy from this series, one more home made videos added to the book ,I think that the author is adding this videos just to increase the price of book not to enrich the materials of the book.
and the irony is that the technique provided in the video is from a German method that is not applied here in the States

As with other books in the Cosmetic Dermatology Series I was very pleased with this production. The included video was very instructive but not all body areas are seen. As a beginning liposuction GYN surgeon I found the sections on equipment and anesthesia very accurate and helpful. I use it as reference everytime I do a particular case i.e. neck or abdomen. Would recommend to all surgeons starting liposuction surgery.

This product was sent with a defective DVD. Its takes up to 6 weeks to get the item in the first place and another 6 weeks to get the replacement. I still have not received the replacement. Therefore I cannot review it. For such an expensive item, it would help to get better customer service with better replacement policies.

You can get the information in this book free on medical skin care sites, but also consider this: do you really want to buy a book written by an M.D. who does not know that a light year is a measure of distance, not time?

I found this book to be helpful to share with clients who are considering laser services. I felt the book did a disservice to the public by not informing the public that professional skin care services are availabe both within the medical setting and outside of the doctor's office.

Simpler procedures than the ones described in Volume I. I guess that it might be useful for the ones who wants to learn to become an aesthetis surgeon, although the infomation provided is still quite limited.

The author could have spent more time and pages describing the complications and pitfalls of the procedures described instead of promoting himself again and again.

The author promotes his own products at the last portion of the book.

There are many repeat contents and pictures in the adjuvant chapter from the 1st volumn.

The DVD is a Zone II format. It cannot be played in the US unless you have a European DVD machine.

Overall, the artist of the book is the best in the business. The content of the book is too pale in comparison.

This book is attractive at first sight with it's glossy paper and high quality drawings. But the book missed out on the most important thing for a book: essence. It sets a goal to educate the non-professionals, i.e., the surgeons who are not in the aesthetic surgery business yet. But the techniques described, except for the upper blepharoplasty and the adjuvant therapies, could never be copied by a non-specialty trained surgeon. In other words, the book missed both the professionals and the wannabes.

Additionally, the author failed to point out the complications, pitfalls, complexities, and difficulties of the procedures. It's like this text itself is a big trap for "novice" aesthetic surgeons to jump in. A responsible educator would have adopted a more responsible approach.

The author wants to standardize the aesthetic procedures for the world, yet he presents only the procedures carrying his own name, the "Mang Method". It's a test of the tolerance of the internatonal aesthetic surgery society indeed.

The included DVD is in Zone II format which means that it cannot be played in a DVD machine with the US Format.

The book may be a commercial success, but it failed in serving its real purpose--teaching.