Bovie Medical Insights

We recognize and understand that primary care physicians stand on the front line when it comes to providing healthcare to most members of their chosen community.  That is why it is so important for you to have the tools and devices that are necessary to treat the healthcare problems that the community as a whole exhibits. These healthcare issues pretty much run the gamut, and many of them involve the largest organ of the body, the skin.

Nothing will ever replace educated medical diagnoses, but educating your patients is always a great idea, and especially effective in promoting skin care self-evaluation. Skin cancer is no longer a fair-skinned people’s disease. More of us are at-risk for UV exposure than ever before, and the CDC’s report released in June 2015 called for more community efforts to educate about and protect people from skin cancer. Two main types of skin cancers are non-melanomas (basal cell/squamous cell carcinomas) and melanomas.

The revolutionary J-Plasma tool allows surgeons to operate in delicate areas of the body.  With an enhanced cutting capability, surgeons can do more while lessening damage to surrounding tissue, according to a May 2015 article in Medgadget.com, an independent publication for and by MDs and biomed engineers.  The J-Plasma device is being used for a variety of gynecological procedures, including treatment of endometriosis. Specifically, they state that, “J-Plasma . . . works at far lower temperatures than traditional CO2 lasers, resulting in less damage to surrounding tissue.  Surgeons treating women with endometriosis, for example, can now remove diseased tissue on the fallopian tubes without fear of damaging these delicate structures.” This can improve the likelihood of more effective treatment, potentially reducing the need for repeat procedures and retain the patient's ability to conceive and bare children.

As a student, you learned the 3 states of matter are solid, liquid and gas, but now you know there’s a fourth: plasma.  The characteristics of plasma are different enough from gas to qualify as another state of matter: it has approximately equal numbers of positively and negatively charged ions.  It’s been estimated that 99% of the universe’s matter is plasma.  Plasma temperatures range from hot to cold, with "hot" having temperatures like that of the sun or a lightning bolt and "cold" having temperatures in the range of fluorescent lights and neon signs.

The risk for skin cancer actually increases as one ages, due to the fact that people have spent a lifetime getting more sun exposure.  However, age is just one factor and there are many others that can contribute to a higher risk of skin cancer.  One sure-fire sign of a high risk for any cancer is if a person has ever had some form of non-melanoma skin cancer in the first place. When you treat patients for conditions like basal cell carcinoma or even squamous cell carcinoma, they may not make the link between this type of non-agressive neoplasm and other more serious types of cancer.  It’s important to make patients aware that once they have any type of non-melanoma skin issue, even if it is not life-threatening, it means that they need to be even more careful about the potential for other types of cancer as well.

Over the last two decades, incidents of non-melanoma skin cancer have been on a dramatic rise around the world.  Non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC) typically come in two types: basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).  While rarely life-threatening, if not properly treated, they represent a threat to disfigure an individual, or they can cause itching, pain or numbness as they spread along nerve tissue.

Do you perform electrosurgical procedures in your family practice office?  No, we’re not talking about electrocautery.  Electrocautery in medical terminology is often misused as a synonym for electrosurgery, even by medical professionals.  Don’t confuse electrocautery with electrosurgery.

There are a number of different scopes that are used in the medical field, including microscopes, otoscopes, ophthalmoscopes, stethoscopes and, the not as popular, colposcopes.

Veterinary surgery has advanced beyond the traditional, conventional techniques, which focused on scalpels, for a myriad of surgical applications. Newer, energy-based techniques like electrosurgery have paved the way for faster and more efficient surgical procedures.

Let's say that one of your patients comes in for a routine blood pressure check and, while chatting, they happen to mention an annoying skin tag on their back and ask for a referral to a dermatologist.  Instead of automatically fulfilling their request, now is the perfect time to begin educating your patients on your ability to both diagnose and treat skin conditions.