This July 2012 issue of JDD highlights pediatric dermatology and evolving therapy in disorders
that impact children and adolescents. In fact, the papers assembled here display the breadth
of diseases of significance from infants into adulthood.
Atopic dermatitis has its most common presentation and highest prevalence in the first few years of
life. Colloidal oatmeal has been used for decades as part of therapy for eczematous dermatitis and
other pruritic disorders. The paper by Joseph F. Fowler MD et al investigates the clinical utility and
tolerability of colloidal oatmeal formulations as adjunctive treatment of mild to moderate atopic dermatitis
in broad range of ages (3 months to 60 years).
A fascinating story in pediatrics and dermatology is the consequences of the observation made in
Bordeaux, France, that a beta-blocker, propranolol, prescribed for secondary cardiac findings from
corticosteroids given for a facial hemangioma, induced rapid involution of the hemangioma. This has
created a revolution in management of hemangiomas of infancy, with rapid take-up of this "old drug,
new use," and with a plethora of publications from around the world. Carlton Phillips et al postulate that
beta-blocker therapy may be considered as beta-adrenergic antagonists, reviewing autonomic receptors,
and proposed mechanisms of action.
Other tumors of infancy and childhood are discussed by Trevino et al in a paper reviewing appropriate
differential diagnosis and possible systemic associations of a variety of hematomas and
neoplasm in childhood.
Finally, the most common skin disorder of adolescents, acne vulgaris, is discussed in the manuscript
by Eichenfield and Krakowski, evaluating topical benzoyl peroxide/clindamycin topical therapy in adolescents
with skin of color. An analysis of a moderate to severe adolescent population with skin of
color from a larger trial of clindamycin 1.2% and benzoyl peroxide 2.5% aqueous gel compared to
adolescents and combined adult/adolescent skin of color cohorts, this paper is the first to evaluate this
important population group. Hopefully, it will encourage future prospective work studying adolescent
and pre-adolescent acne in skin of color patients.
I hope you enjoy the range of papers included in this issue of the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology and
are as encouraged as I am at the evolution in the field of Pediatric Dermatology research.
Lawrence F. Eichenfield MD
Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine (Dermatology)Chief, Pediatric and Adolescent Dermatology
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, CA
