The woman is undergoing a strict regimen of immunosuppression therapy so her body does not reject the donor skin, a problem that has been encountered in other skin transplants, the doctors said.
Doctors added more skin than needed in case of tissue rejection.
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Previously, doctors have predicted whether skin cancer was likely to spread by measuring its thickness.
But there are genes that are more likely to occur in Europeans, who are descended from a relatively tiny population that made its way up the continent, than in Africans. (There is also far more genetic diversity in Africa than anywhere else.) And sometimes these genes are medically important enough that guessing at their presence based on skin color is worthwhile to some doctors.
In one survey 90% of dermatologists reported detecting skin cancers that had been missed by non-boarded doctors calling themselves dermatologists.
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The other distinction is that traditional healers use herbs, plants and some animal skin in the muthi (medicines), whereas witch doctors are said to also use human body parts, meaning they are sometimes implicated in murders.
Doctors performed an estimated 127, 000 nonablative laser skin procedures this year, up from 110, 000 in 2001.
As more people use Botox as the ultimate wrinkle remover, doctors are realizing that its benefits delve far deeper than the skin.
The immune-disease angle surfaced when doctors noticed that cancer patients who also had psoriasis found their skin improved when they took the immune suppressants methotrexate (for cancer) and cyclosporine (for organ transplants).
In these cases the doctors had trained in pediatrics and internal medicine and had simply hung out a skin-care shingle.
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When a drug is likely to cause a severe side effect--say, an increased risk of heart attack, an allergic reaction that causes the skin to burn or liver failure--the standard practice is to warn patients and doctors about the product's labeling, and to send out warning letters to physicians who might prescribe the medicine.
In a 15-hour procedure in mid-March, doctors gave Wiens a donor forehead, nasal structure, nose, lips and facial skin.
In a 15-hour procedure, doctors used donated tissue to give Wiens a donor forehead, nasal structure, nose, lips and facial skin.
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