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Dermatologic surgery is a young field. During the past four decades, dermatology has pivoted from a primarily medical specialty to an organ-based medical and surgical subspecialty.
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Dermatologic surgeons in the United States now not only perform more surgical excisions and linear repairs for skin cancer than all other specialists combined, but the majority of local flaps and grafts as well. At the same time, dermatologic surgeons have wholeheartedly embraced an evidence-based approach to surgical care, and the dramatic expansion in everything from clinical trials to survey studies during the past few decades has been astonishing.
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Similarly, aesthetic dermatology has undergone an expansionist trend, with studies suggesting that dermatologists are increasingly seen as the experts of choice for cosmetic procedures.
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There are many outstanding dermatologic surgery textbooks both in and out of print, and ideally the reader—whether a budding dermatologic surgeon or a wizened expert—should pore over as many of these as possible.
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One of the goals for this text was to produce a book that, at least in rough measure, would reflect the proportion of time, effort, and training required for any given subject. Thus, for example, no fewer than five full chapters (in addition to numerous other sections) are dedicated to Mohs surgery. Similarly, a total of 17 richly illustrated chapters, including those devoted to particular flap techniques and regional approaches to reconstruction, address flap and graft closures, because exposure to a breadth of approaches may be transformative in allowing the trainee to develop a surgical eye. Since anatomy is the foundation on which all surgery is built, the anatomy chapter is centered on a true ground-up cadaveric study of head and neck anatomy with an eye to clinical relevance.
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Dermatologic Surgery is, therefore, a bridge text, with the benefits of a single-volume multiauthor global dermatologic surgery textbook coupled with the strengths of a dedicated flap and reconstructive text. It includes not only flap chapters but reconstructive chapters for specific anatomic locations as well. This combination provides both fundamental flap technique didactics and a regional reconstructive approach, which cements the breadth of reconstructive options available to the dermatologic surgeon.
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Diversity in dermatology is important, not only for surgeons, but for patients as well. Thus, this text includes a chapter focused on ethnic and gender differences in filler use, a chapter on laser use in skin of color, and a detailed chapter on the burgeoning field of female genital rejuvenation. The world of dermatologic surgery is changing rapidly, and therefore chapters on ethics, billing and financial considerations, clinical research, radiation therapy, body contouring, and others have been included. Cosmetic dermatologic surgery is a rapidly evolving field; therefore, this text takes a real-world approach to the use of fillers and neuromodulators, since the majority of their use in dermatologic surgery is outside of the narrow confines of FDA-approved indications.
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By devoting special sections to surgical treatments by disease state for everything from melanoma and dysplastic nevi to hidradenitis and vitiligo, both a forward- and backward-referencing capability are added. Similarly, for cosmetic treatments, the book includes chapters that are centered not only on a given treatment (vascular lasers, dermabrasion, or fillers) but also by condition or concern, so that the reader can learn approaches both from the ground up and in a natural didactic fashion based on the patient’s presenting concerns.
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Full-length high-quality videos are an essential adjunct to learning procedural techniques, and this text is accompanied by the largest video resource of its kind ever compiled. This resource, coupled with close to 3,000 high-quality clinical photographs and nearly 500 professional medical illustrations, including infographics with surgical pearls for each chapter—with many pearls stratified by beginner tips, expert tips, cautions, patient education points, and even billing tips—help make this text truly unique.
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Finally, this text is the first of its kind to include a chapter dedicated solely to laser treatment for burns and trauma. This chapter should serve as a resource and inspiration for clinicians eager to help those who may stand to benefit the most from some of the techniques discussed throughout this book.
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I am honored to have an all-star cast of section editors who helped with recruiting chapter authors. These section editors include prominent academic and private-practice dermatologic surgeons who, among other honors, have served as president of the American Board of Dermatology, president of the American College of Mohs Surgery (two of the section editors), president of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, and editor in chief of the Dermatologic Surgery journal.
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Jonathan Kantor, MD, MSCE, MA