What is impetigo? It’s an itchy, painful and very treatable rash
What’s red with oozing blisters and a honey-colored crust? Impetigo. Pronounced im-peh-tie-go, this common childhood skin infection often starts with a cut, scratch or bug bite. It sounds truly awful, but don’t despair. “The infection can be itchy and painful, but it is very treatable and can even disappear on its own,” said April R….
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Kent L. Walker, D.O., COOL’s newest pediatric orthopedic surgeon
Kent L. Walker, D.O., pediatric orthopedic surgeon, has joined Norton Children’s Orthopedics of Louisville. Dr. Walker earned his undergraduate degree from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and medical degree from Lincoln Memorial University-DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Harrogate, Tennessee. He completed his residency at Wellmont Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, Tennessee, and a…
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Cord blood banking: Should you save stem cells from your baby’s umbilical cord?
For families with a history of certain cancers, storing a baby’s cord blood can be an attractive option. Is it right for you? And how do you go about it? Cord blood contains stem cells that can be used if someone needs a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. Stem cell transplants treat leukemia, lymphoma,…
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Baby fell out of bed? Know the signs of concussion in a baby
A toddler’s or baby’s concussion symptoms are generally the same as other ages, but since children can’t communicate like adults, here are signs to watch for: Baby concussion symptoms Any persistent behavior change, such as irritability or distractedness Any change in the baby’s sleeping habits — sleeping more or less Any behavior, such as vomiting,…
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Ugandan girl to return home happy and healthy after Louisville surgeons repair her heart
Two-year-old Gift Mbwali and her mother traveled more than 7,600 miles from their home in Uganda to Norton Children’s Heart Institute where surgeons repaired a heart defect she has lived with since birth. Her family was well aware of the high stakes. Her older brother, Patrick, made the same journey in 2017 to have a…
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Teenagers are getting chlamydia in high numbers
Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted disease (STD) among young women ages 15 to 19. Nationally in 2016, 18,285 teen girls were diagnosed. In Kentucky, the number of cases rose 30 percent from 2011 to 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Even more alarming, pediatric/adolescent gynecologists in Louisville and Southern…
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The Society of Thoracic Surgeons ratings give insight into congenital heart outcomes
When a parent has a newborn, child or teen with a congenital heart condition that needs surgery, they want to know where the operation should happen and which hospital has a record of success. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) operates a database that rates congenital heart programs based on patients’ outcomes. Users can look…
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Why do babies wear helmets?
Have you ever seen a baby in headgear and wondered, but didn’t want to ask mom “Why do babies wear helmets?” Also called a cranial orthotic, helmet therapy is a type of treatment prescribed for infants to help correct an abnormal skull shape. About 75 percent of brain growth happens by age 2. To accommodate…
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Does your child have unexplained headaches and vision loss? Consider pseudotumor cerebri
Children with blurred vision and headache or double vision may be experiencing increased pressure inside the skull. Sometimes there’s no obvious cause. Often, the condition is pseudotumor cerebri. Pseudotumor cerebri in adults is associated with obesity and is much more frequent in women. In children who haven’t started puberty, pseudotumor cerebri happens equally among boys and girls…
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Once too fragile for a heart transplant, young P.J. and his family look to a bright future
Philmore Jackson III, is a courageous young man whose medical journey has taken many twists and turns. By age 3, Philmore, who goes by P.J., had been near death many times. By many accounts, there wasn’t much hope for him to live to his fourth birthday. Born in 2014 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, P.J. was…
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At 16, Bahaaldin Alsoufi, M.D., saw his father survive a heart attack
Bahaaldin Alsoufi, M.D., was a teenager growing up in Damascus, Syria, when his father collapsed from a heart attack. The 16-year-old watched with uncertainty and fear as his father was treated at a local hospital and later in the United States. Grateful and relieved to see him recover, he vowed to pursue a profession in…
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Does solid food over breastfeeding really help babies sleep better?
A recent debate about feeding infants solid food before 6 months of age has become a point of conversation among new mothers. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, mothers should exclusively breastfeed for the first four to six months, however a recent study has questioned whether starting solid food earlier leads to better sleep….
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