NHS Evidence

NHS Evidence - skin disorders (formerly the NLH Skin Disorders Specialist Library) is being developed as a "one-stop" resource bringing together high quality, evidence-based information on all of aspects of skin disorders, including their treatment and management and the impact they have on patients. NHS Evidence - skin disorders is funded by the NHS to meet the information needs of health care staff such as dermatologists, dermatology nurses, GPs, practice nurses, community nurses and NHS managers.

Patients, carers and the general public are welcome to use this site, but may wish to visit NHS Choices and NHS Direct Online first. We regret that we are unable to respond to personal medical queries. For such matters we would advise you to contact NHS Direct or your usual doctor.

To find out more about what we do, you can also view our inclusion and quality criteria. If you are a first time user, do take a look at our Help page.

Important note: As of 19th November 2009, the results display on all NHS Evidence specialist collections will default to inverse order of publication date, i.e. most recent first. You can still display by alphabetical order of title using the "Search results options" at the right of each results page.

Annual Evidence Update on Acne Vulgaris

NEW! Monday 1st March is the date of publication of the 2010 Annual Evidence Update on Acne Vulgaris.

This is our fourth Annual Evidence Update on Acne Vulgaris. It includes the results of our search for new guidance and systematic reviews published since the last Annual Evidence Update in March 2010, and an overview of "what's new" by Professor Hywel Williams and Dr Emma Smith.

Link to Annual Evidence Update pages here

Guest Editorials

NEW! Five guest commentaries on the new Dermatology Health Care Needs Assessment (December 2009) 

Previous Guest Editorials:

• "Dermatology General Practitioners with a Special Interest (GPwSIs): the new quality commissioning and accreditation frameworks" by Dr Julia Schofield (July 2007)
• "The updated Cochrane Review on Interventions for basal cell carcinoma of the skin” by Dr Graham Colver (January 2007)
• "The oral methotrexate guidelines from the National Patient Safety Agency" by Dr Robert Chalmers (August 2006)

Unanswered clinical questions on skin disease treatments

NHS Evidence - skin disorders is collaborating with the UK Dermatology Clinical Trials Network (UKDCTN) to collect unanswered clinical questions on skin disease treatments. These will be assessed for inclusion as uncertainties in UK DUETs, the UK Database of Uncertainties about the Effects of Treatments, and then used to help prioritise future research.

If you have a contribution to make, do please contact us via our DUETS submission form.

What's on the Horizon

Updated NICE guidance - Improving Outcomes for People with Skin Tumours including Melanoma - update relating to the management of low risk basal cell carcinomas in the community (due March 2010)

Cochrane Review - Interventions for non-metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the skin (due soon)