Hospital.Help

Berlin The Professional Association of German Dermatologists (BVDD) has sharply criticized the current skin cancer campaign of the German Society for Oral, Maxillofacial and Facial Surgery (DGMKG).

In it, the DGMKG called for people to consult a facial surgeon for surgical treatment directly or upon referral from a dermatologist if they have scaly skin, ulcers or lumps on the face.

The DGMKG campaign provides comprehensive information about the symptoms and treatment of facial skin cancer in educational videos. Our campaign aims to draw attention to the special quality of specialist treatment provided by maxillofacial surgeons, said DGMKG press spokesman Hendrik Terheyden.

The dermatologists are not very enthusiastic about it. We firmly reject the cherry-picking that oral and maxillofacial surgeons do when it comes to particularly lucrative skin cancer operations on the face, said BVDD President Ralph von Kiedrowski. Skin cancer therapy, even if surgery is required in the head and neck area, should always be in the hands of dermatologists.

According to von Kiedrowski, those affected cannot be helped with an operation alone. According to the BVDD, the widespread precursors of light skin cancer, the actinic keratoses of various forms and stages, do not require surgery in the vast majority of cases.

Before cutting actinic keratoses, there are numerous, very effective and compatible drug therapy options, so that patients can be spared an operation with scarring, especially in the facial area, explained the BVDD President.

This also applies to operations on manifest skin cancer. Moderate, locally limited surgical interventions are often enough to remove skin cancer. Larger, more extensive operations, which are certainly also carried out by our colleagues in maxillofacial surgery, are the exception, explained von Kiedrowski.

In addition, according to the BVDD, more than operating room capacity is needed to ensure care for the increasing number of skin cancer patients. Long-term concepts are required, from prevention to diagnostics and therapy through to aftercare for chronically photodamaged patients.

It is also important that general practitioners’ practices are not allowed to refer patients with suspected findings from skin cancer screening examinations to general or maxillofacial surgeons in accordance with the cancer screening guidelines. According to the BVDD, the diagnosis and further treatment decisions are the responsibility of the dermatologist.

In this respect, the DGMKG communication even contains a recommendation that can cause billing problems for general practitioners’ practices if guidelines are violated, warned von Kiedrowski. © hil/sb/aerzteblatt.de