Foreword

With the advances in basic sciences and clinical research, Dermatology has evolved over the past 25 years of the last century from an almost exclusively descriptive specialty to a more comprehensive medicine branch encompassing all the scientific advances in the field.

Accordingly, as dermatology has grown, dermatological therapy has progressed from an art provided with empirical treatments and “pearls” to evidence based treatments and procedures, with striking improvement in our ability to manage skin disorders.

As dermatologic therapy is rapidly changing, an up-to-date survey of the main dermatological treatments is needed. The purpose of this book, edited by Dr. Conde- Taboada is to provide an informative text designed to be practical for residents and physicians. To achieve this objective, a group of young dermatologists and pharmacists, trained in the evidence-based medicine era, were recruited as assistant authors for the different chapters.

The book is divided into the three main dermatological treatment areas, excluding surgical procedures, namely: topical, systemic and physical therapies, covering from basic aspects of topical therapy to the most recent biologic treatments. In every chapter, the main medications are presented paying attention to their indications (including off-label), dosage, adverse events, contraindications… etc. The accompanying tables and figures will also help in global understanding.

The goal of this book is to be a comprehensive revision of all the therapeutic modalities or strategies in dermatology. Being an eBook makes it easy to hand on every day work, and we think it is a valuable tool to improve the daily practical approach to our patients.