Fundamental to both is the absorption of photons of light by a chromophore. However, once this event occurs, the mechanisms leading to cellular damage diverge. In phototoxic reactions the photosensitivity is mediated by non-immunologic mechanisms. Absorption of photons of a specific wavelength (UVA in nearly all cases) by the photosensitizing chromophore results in electrons changing...

Bruce Miller, MDDr. Miller, a Dermatologist, is a Consultant for Diving Medicine Online. This is a lecture presented to Medical Seminars, 2000 Travel to the tropical climes can often aggravate preexisting skin problems as well as expose us to new hazards. Here is a review some of the more common ones and suggestions for some...

Pruritis Carl Edmonds feels that this is a common manifestation of diving in a compression chamber, most likely due to the release of small bubbles from gas dissolved in the epidermis. In this mild form, no signs are visible, and the itching is temporary, mild, comes and goes and is more marked around the ears...

Neoprene allergy is seen quite often and the obvious remedy is to discontinue it’s use and obtain any other kind of wet suit that serves the purpose of thermal protection. Interposing creams or chemicals is not effective or wise. This is a usually an allergy to one of the chemical accelerators in Neoprene and would...

by Bruce Miller, MDDr. Miller, a Dermatologist, is a Consultant for Diving Medicine Online. This is a lecture presented to Medical Seminars, 2000 A brief review of the physics and photobiology of ultraviolet radiation (UVR): Transformation of H to He in sun’s interior liberates vast amounts of energy which reaches the earth’s surface in the...

by Bruce Miller, MD Dr. Miller, a Dermatologist, is a Consultant for Diving Medicine Online. This is a lecture presented to Medical Seminars, 2000 Travel to the tropical climes can often aggravate preexisting skin problems as well as expose us to new hazards. Here is a review some of the more common ones and suggestions...