Dr. Girish Baliga

Asthma is a chronic lung condition wherein the air passage gets blocked or constricted due to the production of extra mucus. It is an age old condition which has been creating problems for people since a long time. Despite the seriousness of the condition, there are various myths people tend to believe about asthma.

Here are a few myths about asthma and the usage of inhalers:

1. Regular Usage of Inhalers is Addictive: This is a total myth. Using inhalers is not at all addictive, it is a necessity. Just because you use your inhaler regularly does not mean you are addicted to it.  Just like brushing your teeth every day isn't an addiction, taking your daily medicine from an inhaler isn't an addiction as well. Using an inhaler will just help you with your asthma condition.
2. Oral Medicine Gets Better Results than Inhalers: Absolutely not. In fact, it is proven that inhalers give better results than oral medications. Oral medication takes longer to act during a sudden asthma attack while inhalers deliver the drug directly to the lungs.
3. Inhalers Are Meant For Severe Asthma Cases: Well, this again is not true. Inhalers are used for treating asthma. Period. Asthma is a condition where your lungs inflame which is best cured with steroids, and the easiest way to have steroids administered to you is through the inhalation method. When you use the inhalers, the steroids are delivered directly to your lungs. They also have a minimum number of side effects when administered through inhalers.
4. Asthma is Curable: You might tend to think that asthma can be cured with the help of proper medications. You might think that asthma is not a constant condition. But it is not what you think. The symptoms of asthma might not be present all the time but that doesn't mean you do not have asthma. Asthma is a long-term condition where the airways swell up causing you to suffer from breathlessness. If you suddenly stop taking your daily medicines because the symptoms have not surfaced, then it will take you a long time before you will be able to totally recover from the next attack you suffer from.

If you have asthma, remember to take your medicines daily and timely. 

Pearly Penile Papules, in medical term is known as Hirsutoid Papillomas. This tends to develop just around the head of the penis. The size and colour varies from one person to another but usually they appear pink-white and measure somewhere between 1 to 4 millimeters in diameter, resembling like small pimples.

Symptoms
Once a man develops these pearly penile papules, they tend to stay with the person for the rest of his life. With the advancement of age, the growths can start to fade but there will be no change in shape, color or even spread further over a period of time. There are no symptoms as such.

Causes

1. Doctors are not sure about, what really causes pearly penile papules. These occurrences are considered to be quite normal and anywhere between 8 and 43 percent of men have them.
2. Pearly penile papules are not caused as a result of any infection or disease and they are neither contagious not harmful in nature.
3. One noticeable fact is that these appear to be more common among black complexioned men and the ones whose foreskin has not yet been removed from the penis.

Treatment
There are mainly two very effective permanent treatment options available for Pearly Penile Papules. They include:

Pulsed-Dye Laser-
The process involves cleaning the region with sterilized saline solution. A topical anesthetic gets applied on the area and kept occluded with a wrap for an hour. Around 1-3 PDL treatments get performed with the use of a 5-mm spot size and 0.50 ms pulse duration, ranging from 6 J/cm2 to 10 J/cm2. It causes minimum discomfort to patients.

Ablation Carbon Dioxide Lasers-
The CO2 lasers have the unique ability to hit the specific areas without causing damage to the nearby tissues. Before the treatment, a numbing cream is applied to the affected portion. As and when the cream gets totally activated, dermatologist would administer the laser treatment by getting it focused and firing off the beam on individual papules, hence getting them vaporized instantly. The whole treatment takes only half an hour and it does not require any injection, thus making the process completely painless.

Radiofrequency Ablation-
Radiofrequency Ablation is a highly effective procedure that does not involve incisions, stitches and hospitalization. It is basically a procedure that uses radio waves in order to destroy the selected areas of tissue, without affecting the other areas. This method used for Pearly Penile Papules removal is a non-invasive cosmetic treatment that uses low-temperature, high –frequency waves in the radio bandwidth, consisting destroying the cells from within, cauterizing the affected area, preventing bleeding, infections and scarring. In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!