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EACH OCTOBER, the family of journals of the American Medical Association, joined by the Lancet, British Medical Journal, and other prestigious publications, devotes 1 issue to a common theme selected by more than 100 editors worldwide as having a major impact on health and health care delivery. This year the theme is aging. The Archives of Dermatology is pleased to participate in this initiative, with the present issue devoted entirely to geriatric and gerontologic dermatology. The several review articles summarize our current understanding of skin photoaging, the skin as a model for aging studies, the immunologic and pigmentary changes in aged skin, and the influence of advanced age on patients undergoing cutaneous surgery. Original articles cover major unresolved clinical problems in geriatric dermatology: compromised wound healing as manifested by leg ulcers and high morbidity and mortality due to skin cancer.
During the past century, the proportion of Americans aged 65