Michael H. Gold, M.D., FAAD
Founder and Medical Director of Gold Skin Care Center, Advanced Aesthetics Medical Spa, The Laser & Rejuvenation Center, and Tennessee Clinical Research Center: Clinical Assistant Professor, Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, Nashville, TN.
As a dermatologist, we are constantly faced with skin cancers and with keloids in our practices. We have many options to deal with these lesions and since incorporating the Sensus SRT into our practice, now we truly have options that we never had before. Non-melanoma skin cancers are, as we all know, rising dramatically in number. We have surgical techniques at our disposal to deal with many of them but we also have patients who do not want surgery, or have what we call “surgical fatigue.” These patients are looking for other methods for dealing with them. We can now offer these patients SRT. With SRT we are not only destroying the skin cancers, but we are also giving cosmetic results that have been very satisfactory for our patients. Skin cancers on the scalp, on the nose, and on the legs are our most common indications for SRT, but one can use it virtually anywhere. Some of our most satisfied patients thought they would be left scarred and miserable, and now they are cancer-free thanks to SRT.
In 1990, I introduced the concept of silicone gel sheeting into dermatology. Our research showed its effectiveness and how we could incorporate it into known treatment options to reduce hypertrophic scars and keloids. Over this period of time, we all agree that treating hypertrophic scars with silicone, works quite well. Our difficulty has always been keloids. No matter what we have done, recurrences and recurrence rates, with larger and more painful lesions, have always been high. With the advent of SRT, we now have a treatment modality that actually is doing something that we have never been able to do before. With a surgical procedure and then fractional superficial radiation over a three-day period we, are reducing the recurrence rates to levels we have never seen before which is between 1-10% and that is truly remarkable.
In our office, we have begun to recommend SRT to most every keloid patient that we see. Again, a surgical procedure is performed by us or one of our referral plastic surgeons. We then perform SRT for three consecutive days after the surgical procedure. It has truly been a game-changer and something that, we think should be employed by those who deal with these difficult skin lesions.
We present one of our patients, who had some of the worst keloids we had seen in our clinical practice. When you look at his neck and try to decide what to do, you know immediately that a surgical procedure is going to be needed. You also should realize that based on the size that is seen, that the risk of recurrence following surgery alone is very high. With the help of a talented plastic surgeon, surgery was performed and SRT was employed for three days after the surgery. We are now almost 6 months out and there are no signs of recurrence. We have basically given him his life back. He is extremely happy and so are we.
This is not an unusual outcome for our keloid patients and it won’t be an abnormal outcome for your patients either. SRT is a game-changer and surely has been for our skin cancer and keloid patients since incorporating this into our practice.
More About Dr. Michael H. Gold
Dr. Michael H. Gold is the founder and medical director of Gold Skin Care Center, Advanced Aesthetics Medical Spa, The Laser & Rejuvenation Center, and Tennessee Clinical Research Center in Nashville, TN. He is a board-certified dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon and oversees the various facets of the center’s operations — a combination of medical and surgical dermatology, cosmetic dermatology, aesthetic services and research endeavors, which began in 1990.
Dr. Gold has earned worldwide recognition for providing patients with leading-edge technological advances in dermatology and aesthetic skincare. He plays an integral role in the development of new pharmaceutical products and medical devices through his clinical research. He presents the results regularly at national and international dermatology and cosmetic meetings.
Dr. Gold has authored over 300 published scientific articles, 35 textbook chapters, and has edited two textbooks on Photodynamic Therapy. He serves on most major dermatology journal boards and is the current Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. In addition, Dr. Gold helped establish the Tennessee Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (TSLMS), a group of health care providers interested in the distribution of information and proper training for those in the cosmetic arena. The TSLMS puts on an annual meeting known as SCALE, or Symposium for Cosmetic Advances & Laser Education. It is one of the leading U.S. dermatologic and aesthetic meetings.
Dr. Gold also helped start two international groups: the Dermatologic Aesthetic Surgery International League (DASIL), which aims to create a global community for the open exchange of knowledge and innovation by physicians specializing in Dermatologic and Aesthetic Surgery. It has become one of the most prominent and important international dermatology groups. It showcases meetings all over the world; and 5-Continent-Congress (5CC), is one of the world’s leading conferences on Dermatologic and Aesthetic Surgery, where he is the current President of the Congress.