Scars from facial surgery look worse to skin cancer patients themselves than to others, so it’s important for surgeons to prepare patients beforehand, researchers say. Doctors can help by outlining the healing process and explaining what their scars will look like in the weeks after surgery, the study authors suggested. “Our research seems to support…  read on >  read on >

U.S. wildfires have become larger, more frequent and more widespread in the past two decades, and the situation will become even worse in the future, a new study warns. “Projected changes in climate, fuel and ignitions suggest that we’ll see more and larger fires in the future,” said lead author Virginia Iglesias, a research scientist…  read on >  read on >

Knee replacement surgery is one of the most common procedures in the United States, with more than 790,000 performed each year. Deciding the time for knee replacement needs to be determined by you and your doctor, but certain factors make it more likely, according to experts at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California.…  read on >  read on >

Most medical debt will be dropped from Americans’ credit reports as of this summer, the top three credit reporting agencies said Friday. The announcement by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion comes as medical bills have become the largest source of personal debt in the United States, CBS News reported. Credit reports are used by lenders to…  read on >  read on >

Consider it a silver lining, courtesy of the coronavirus: A new government report reveals that both cigarette smoking and electronic cigarette use dropped slightly among American adults during the first year of the pandemic. The findings, published March 18 in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, are based on a survey of more than 31,000…  read on >  read on >

Most brain studies that rely on MRI scans don’t include enough people to provide trustworthy results, researchers say. These brain-wide association studies use MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to see how brain structure and function connect with personality, behavior, thinking, neurological conditions and mental illness. Such studies require thousands of participants to get accurate results, but…  read on >  read on >