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Acne vulgaris, a prevalent dermatological disorder, frequently affects individuals' self-perception and general psychosocial functioning. The growing demand for home-based light therapy devices prompted a systematic review to assess the efficacy of visible light in acne treatment. Overall, 35 studies were included, representing 1185 cases of acne vulgaris (mean age: 23.7 years; sex: 63% female). A total of 69% of the included studies were level 2 evidence. Overall, 92% of patients achieved partial remission of their acne lesions using visible light therapy. Among the patients who experienced a partial remission of their acne, 46% experienced a reduction of 0% to 50% in their acne lesions, while 33% and 12% experienced reductions of 51% to 74% and 75% to 99%, respectively. Notably, blue light emerged as the predominant treatment modality in this context, used in around 64% of the cases. A total of 95% of the patients who were treated with blue light experienced a partial clearance of acne lesions; 44% experienced a reduction of 0% to 50% in their acne lesions, while 42% and 9% experienced reductions of 51% to 74% and 75% to 99%, respectively. Overall, the average total lesion count improved by 43% at week 4 compared to the baseline. The average number of treatment sessions was 22 (range 1-112 sessions). On average, treated patients responded within a period of 4 weeks. Commonly reported side effects included skin irritation and erythema. This review highlights the potential of visible light therapy in acne treatment. Head-to-head studies are needed to compare the efficacy of visible light compared to existing therapies for the treatment of acne. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article published in Clinical & Experimental Dermatology discusses the assessment of GPT-4's diagnostic accuracy in generating appropriate diagnoses for common skin lesions, specifically focusing on darker skin tones. The study found that GPT-4 exhibited better performance in providing correct diagnoses for lighter skin tones compared to darker skin tones, with a statistically significant difference. The research highlights the importance of ensuring that AI tools like GPT-4 are accurate and unbiased across all patient demographics and skin types before being used in clinical settings. [Extracted from the article]

The study analyzed discussions on the r/Blackskincare subreddit to explore perceptions, preferences, and barriers related to sunscreen use among Black individuals. Despite evidence of sunscreen's benefits in reducing skin cancer risk, its use remains low in Black populations. The study found that while negative attitudes towards sunscreen exist, barriers such as concerns about cosmesis and skin irritation are prominent but not insurmountable. The findings suggest that improved availability and provider-led patient education about sunscreens could promote health equity in sun protection practices. [Extracted from the article]

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) skin manifestations have been increasingly reported in medical literature. Recent discussions have identified a lack of images of skin of color (SOC) patients with COVID-19 related skin findings despite people with skin of color being disproportionately affected with the disease. There have been calls to prioritize the identification of COVID-19 skin manifestations in patients with SOC and disseminate these findings. The objective of this article is to review the existing literature on COVID-19 skin manifestations and, where possible, discuss how they may present differently in patients with SOC. Further research is needed to allow primary care physicians and dermatologists to be aware of and easily identify patients with cutaneous findings that may be secondary to COVID-19. Patients presenting with idiopathic dermatologic manifestations should be considered for COVID-19 testing and follow public health guidelines for self-isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective strategy to control the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic takes into account inputs from many domains, including community epidemiology, surveillance and testing, contact tracing capacity, support for vulnerable populations, and health care system strain. Provincial and federal governments currently lack a universal approach to presenting relevant pandemic data from these domains to the general public in a way that engages them in decision making and promotes adherence to policies. We propose a framework to analyze COVID-19 pandemic data on an ongoing basis using inputs from these five domains, which can be scaled to the local public health unit, provincial, or national level. Data analysis was qualitative and semi-quantitative because there was a paucity of publicly available data on surveillance and testing, contact tracing, and health care system strain, which limited our ability to perform internal and external validation of our model. We urge the federal government to mandate a core set of reporting items across local, provincial, and federal jurisdictions that may then be used to perform validation and implementation of our proposed framework., (Copyright © 2021, Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada (AMMI Canada).)