Kavita Mariwalla, MD

Dr. Mariwalla is the Director of Dermatologic Surgery, Continuum Cancer Centers of New York, New York.

Dr. Mariwalla reports no conflicts of interest in relation to this post.

BMJ recently published a meta-analysis (2012;345:e5909) correlating indoor tanning use with nonmelanoma skin cancer. Although dermatologists have long known of this link, this analysis is important because it gives us concrete numbers that we can provide to our patients. The authors looked at 12 studies including 9328 cases of nonmelanoma skin cancer.

Ted Rosen, MD

Dr. Rosen is Professor of Dermatology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.

Dr. Rosen reports no conflicts of interest in relation to this post.

It is uncommon for a virtual cascade of papers to simultaneously disclose potentially game-changing medical information, especially when physician authors practice in markedly disparate parts of the world. Nonetheless, 2012 brought 3 distinct papers that sharply call into question the accuracy of the standard punch biopsy in determining the subtype of basal cell carcinomas (BCCs).