Mid-County Dermatology

Hair loss is not one condition. It is several, and they need different treatments.

Androgenetic alopecia, the pattern thinning that runs in families, behaves nothing like alopecia areata, where the immune system attacks hair follicles in patches. Telogen effluvium, a stress or illness triggered shedding, resolves differently than either. Treating them the same way rarely works.

At Mid-County Dermatology, hair and scalp concerns are diagnosed with trichoscopy, a magnified exam of the scalp and hair shaft that shows what is actually happening at the follicle, not just what the shedding looks like on the surface. That diagnosis is what a real treatment plan is built on.

Depending on the cause, that can mean topical or oral medication, platelet rich plasma, low level laser therapy, or a referral for surgical restoration. The starting point is always figuring out which kind of hair loss you actually have.

If your hair has changed and you are not sure why, that is exactly what we are here to sort out.

Call 314-994-0200 or schedule online at www.midcountyderm.com/schedule.

Tonight, the fast of Yom Kippur comes to a close.

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the Jewish year. For twenty-five hours, observant Jews step away from food and water and from the noise of daily life to reflect honestly on the year behind them and ask forgiveness, from G-d and from each other.

It is a solemn day, but it does not end in heaviness. Yom Kippur closes at Ne’ilah, the final service, as the gates are said to close and a single shofar blast sounds. What follows is not exhaustion but relief, a lightness that comes from having faced the year honestly and being ready to begin again.

To our Jewish patients, staff, and neighbors observing today, we are thinking of you. May your fast be meaningful and your close be gentle.

G’mar Chatimah Tovah. May you be sealed for good.

A month long wait for a dermatology appointment is common. It should not be.

When a mole changes shape, a rash will not clear, or a spot on your skin starts to worry you, time matters. The earlier a dermatologist sees it, the earlier you get an answer, and for anything on the more serious end of the spectrum, that early answer can change the outcome entirely.

That is why our scheduling team holds same week openings every single day, not just for existing patients but for new ones too. Most people who call us get seen within one week.

Reaching us is simple. Call 314-994-0200 and our team will find you the next available slot, or skip the phone call entirely and book online through our scheduler.

You should not have to wait a month to get a straight answer about your own skin.

Call 314-994-0200 or schedule online at www.midcountyderm.com/schedule.

Twenty-five years ago today, the world changed in a single morning.

We remember the thousands of lives lost, the families who carried unimaginable grief, and the first responders who ran toward danger while everyone else ran away.

We also remember the doctors, nurses, and emergency workers who spent the days and years afterward caring for the injured and the grieving, some of whom are still managing the health effects of that day.

Resilience is not one moment. It is chosen again every year we choose to remember well.

From our entire team at Mid-County Dermatology, we honor those we lost and everyone who continues to show up for others.

Chapped lips that will not heal might not be chapped lips at all.

Cheilitis is inflammation of the lips and the skin around the mouth. Lips have no sebaceous glands of their own, so they depend entirely on saliva and outside products to stay hydrated. That built in vulnerability is why lips crack and peel more persistently than almost any other skin.

THE MAIN TYPES
Angular cheilitis shows up as cracking and redness at the corners of the mouth, usually driven by Candida or Staph feeding on trapped saliva. Ill fitting dentures, deep folds at the mouth corners, and habitual lip licking all create that moist reservoir.

Actinic cheilitis affects the lower lip after years of sun exposure. It causes persistent dryness, scaling, and a blurred lip border, and it is considered precancerous.

Contact cheilitis is an allergic or irritant reaction, often to fragrance, flavoring, or a preservative in lip balm, lipstick, or toothpaste.

Nutritional cheilitis can point to low iron, B2, or B12.

Exfoliative cheilitis is chronic peeling, frequently tied to habitual picking.

WHO IS MOST AT RISK
Denture wearers, chronic lip lickers and mouth breathers, outdoor workers, and anyone with atopic dermatitis or an iron deficiency.

WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS
Treatment depends on the cause. Angular cheilitis responds to a topical antifungal or antibacterial plus a barrier ointment. Actinic cheilitis needs daily lip specific SPF and sometimes a biopsy to rule out early skin cancer. Contact cheilitis improves once the trigger product is identified through patch testing and removed. Nutritional cases resolve once the deficiency is corrected.

SEE A DERMATOLOGIST if cracking persists past two weeks of consistent moisturizing, if you notice scaling or a rough patch that will not resolve, especially with years of sun exposure, or if a sore does not heal.

Link in bio to schedule with Mid-County Dermatology.

Happy Labor Day from all of us at Mid-County Dermatology.

Today marks the unofficial end of summer, but UV exposure does not follow a calendar. Labor Day weekend still brings peak outdoor time, so this is a good moment for a quick check: sunscreen bottle not expired, reapplication every two hours if you are outside, and a hat or shade for the parts sunscreen tends to miss like the ears and part line.

We are grateful for the community that trusts us with their skin, and for a team that shows up for it every day. Enjoy the long weekend, whatever that looks like for you.

See you tomorrow!

Yes, sunscreen ingredients get absorbed. That was never the question.

In 2019 and 2020 the FDA ran trials showing that chemical filters like avobenzone, oxybenzone, octocrylene, and homosalate reach the bloodstream at levels above the threshold that triggers further safety review. Headlines stopped there. The FDA did not. The agency requested more data and explicitly told the public to keep using sunscreen.

Absorption tells you a molecule crossed the skin. It tells you nothing about whether that molecule causes harm at that dose. Caffeine is absorbed. So is water.

WHAT THE EVIDENCE ACTUALLY SHOWS
UV radiation is a confirmed human carcinogen. Regular sunscreen use lowers the incidence of melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma and measurably slows photoaging. No study has shown that sunscreen causes cancer.

ON THE COMMON WORRIES
Benzene is not a sunscreen ingredient. It appeared as a manufacturing contaminant in specific recalled batches, which is a quality control problem, not an argument against the category. Real world sunscreen use has not been shown to cause vitamin D deficiency. If chemical filters still make you uneasy, zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are the two filters the FDA classifies as generally recognized as safe and effective.

WHAT TO SKIP
Homemade sunscreen. You cannot measure SPF or broad spectrum coverage in a kitchen, and the American Academy of Dermatology advises against it.

Sunscreen is one layer. Shade, a hat, UPF clothing, and a yearly skin check are the rest.

Bring your questions to your appointment. Skepticism is reasonable. Acting on a headline is not.

Link in bio to schedule with Mid-County Dermatology.

A bleach bath is weaker than a swimming pool.

Staph aureus colonizes eczema prone skin at far higher rates than healthy skin, and that bacterial load drives flares. Dilute sodium hypochlorite lowers it. The final concentration is roughly 0.005%, well below pool water.

HOW TO DO IT
Fill a standard tub completely, about 40 gallons. Add half a cup of plain 5% or 6% household bleach to the running water and swirl so it disperses fully before anyone gets in. Half a tub gets a quarter cup. A baby tub gets one teaspoon per gallon.

Soak from the neck down for 5 to 10 minutes. Keep it out of the eyes and mouth. Rinse with fresh water, pat dry, and moisturize within three minutes while skin is still damp.

Twice a week is typical. Three times for heavier colonization.

WHAT NOT TO DO
Never use scented, splash free, or concentrated bleach. Never pour it onto skin undiluted. Never mix it with any other cleaning product. Skip the bath on openly weeping or cracked skin unless your dermatologist has cleared it, and stop if it burns or stings.

Bleach baths work alongside your prescription regimen, not instead of it. Ask us before starting, especially for a child.

Link in bio to schedule with Mid-County Dermatology.

Eczema isn’t dry skin. It’s a broken wall.

In atopic dermatitis, a filaggrin deficiency leaves the stratum corneum low in the lipids that seal it. Water escapes, allergens and microbes get in, and a Th2 driven immune response follows. The itch arrives before the rash, which is why clinicians call eczema the itch that rashes.

WHERE IT SHOWS UP
Poorly defined pink to violet brown patches in the elbow and knee creases, on the hands and eyelids, behind the ears. Chronic scratching thickens the skin into leathery lichenification.

WHAT SETS IT OFF
Low humidity, hot showers, fragranced and sulfate cleansers, wool, sweat, dust mite, stress.

WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS
Thick ointment emollients applied to damp skin, topical corticosteroids matched to the body site, and steroid sparing options like tacrolimus, pimecrolimus, or crisaborole for the face and eyelids. Moderate and severe disease responds to dupilumab and to JAK inhibitors such as upadacitinib and abrocitinib. Dilute bleach baths reduce staph colonization in recurrent cases.

SEE A DERMATOLOGIST
If drugstore hydrocortisone isn’t holding after two weeks, if itch is costing you sleep, or if you notice honey colored crusting. That’s infection, not a flare.

Link in bio to schedule with Mid-County Dermatology.

If you’re on Medicare, a new federal proposal could change how you get dermatology care. Right now, if your doctor finds something concerning, they can biopsy it the same day. Under this proposal, you may need to schedule a second visit — and pay a second co-pay — just to get the procedure done.

That means longer waits for answers, more trips to the office, and more out-of-pocket costs, especially if you live far from your dermatologist or rely on someone else for rides. For a suspicious mole or a fast-growing skin cancer, that extra wait isn’t just inconvenient — early diagnosis is often what keeps treatment simple.

You don’t have to just watch this happen. Your voice matters here — telling your representatives you want to keep same-day care is one of the most direct ways to protect your own access to timely treatment.