Just returned from the medical school at East Carolina University.  I was attending a one day seminar in dermatology.  I picked up some new info on treating conditions I knew about but for which treatments had changed.

I learned one very important thing. If a patient shows up with a benign (harmless) condition called seborrheic keratosis, I reassure them.  But, if their condition is extensive and occurred in a very short period of time, say many of these lesions in less than 3 months, I should look for a growth hormone secreting tumor!  It is the growth hormone that is accelerating the appearance of this usually benign condition. Even with a tumor the condition itself is benign, but the short time frame in which it appears can indicate a malignancy.

Recently, I heard and interview with an M.D. who unlike most doctors was an expert in nutrition. He was talking about the dangers inherent in excess carbohydrate consumption. This was defined by him as above a range of 100-130 grams of carbohydrate per day. He said that insulin secretion is over stimulated by too much carbohydrate.  He said that insulin was an important growth hormone and that an indication that your insulin levels are too high for too long was the appearance of multiple skin tags, benign growths or extra stalks of skin that occur around your neck, under your arms, on your inner thighs and around your waist.

Patients often come to our office to have them removed. We limit them to 20 at a time.  Some people have hundreds.  They are all above their ideal body weight.  This rang a bell when I heard about skin growth stimulated by tumors.

The large “hump” some women get at the base of their neck and top of their thoracic spine has long been recognized as an over secretion of insulin and part of a pre-diabetic condition.  Discuss this with your doctor if you are affected by any of these.  Since increased insulin is associated with metabolic syndrome - a pre-diabetic state - that increases your risk of heart disease, both of these conditions should be discussed ASAP.

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