Department of Dermatology and Allergology - University Hospital Marburg UKGM

The Department of Dermatology and Allergology at the University Hospital Marburg UKGM offers all the modern diagnostic and therapeutic options for patients with skin diseases, including skin manifestations of allergic reactions. The department has been conducting successful clinical activities for more than 100 years, and therefore it has extensive experience and unique achievements in its area of specialization. Such advanced fields of dermatology as laser therapy, light therapy, dermatohistology, etc. are well developed in the department. It operates an emergency dermatological care service, which provides round-the-clock patient care. The Chief Physician of the department is Prof. Dr. med. Michael Hertl.

The priority focus of the department’s clinical work is dermatosurgery. The specialists in this field conduct surgical treatment of skin tumors, venous diseases, malformations and other skin diseases. With appropriate clinical indications, surgical interventions are performed using minimally invasive techniques. In addition, plastic reconstructive operations are successfully performed here. One of the department’s special offers in this focus is electrochemotherapy, which is used to treat certain types of skin and superficial metastases. The combination of electrical impulses with chemotherapeutic drugs mutually enhances the effect of both methods. It also makes it possible to reduce the dosage of a chemotherapeutic drug. Electrochemotherapy is performed under anesthesia (depending on the location of the tumor and the number of metastases, the procedure can be performed under general anesthesia or spinal anesthesia with additional sedation). On average, the procedure takes 30 minutes. The surgical options of the department are complemented by microscopically controlled surgery, plastic reconstructive interventions, skin transplantation, surgical treatment of chronic wounds and other surgical measures.

Laser therapy is widely used in clinical practice (for example, it serves for the removal of warts, scar revision, treatment of pathological changes in blood vessels and removal of unwanted hair). The department is fitted out with the cutting-edge equipment for ablative laser therapy (Erbium YAG laser and CO2 laser) for pathological changes in the skin, genetic skin diseases, as well as coagulation laser therapy for the treatment of blood vessel lesions.

In the field of allergology, various types of diagnostics and therapy are offered for patients suffering from allergies to food, drugs and insect venom, contact allergies, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, urticaria and professional dermatoses. The department is part of the Allergy Center Hesse certified by the German Society of Allergology and Clinical Immunology as the Comprehensive Allergy Center.

The department’s spectrum of medical services includes:

• Diagnostics and treatment of skin tumors
  • Malignant melanomas
  • Basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma
  • Rare skin tumors (for example, skin lymphomas, skin sarcomas)
    • Surgical tumor resection
    • Cytostatic therapy (electrochemotherapy, chemosaturation)
    • Vaccine therapy (in case of infection with oncogenic viruses)
    • Cryotherapy
    • Laser therapy
    • Light therapy using ultraviolet (PUVA, UVB311, UVA1) or red light (photodynamic therapy)
    • Advanced intensified procedures (using photons, electrons, ions)
    • Intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT and VMAT)
    • Three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy
    • All stereotactic procedures on the brain, lungs, liver
    • Brachytherapy
    • Ion beam therapy
    • Systemic therapy
• Dermatohistopathological studies
• Mycological diagnostics
• Diagnostics and treatment of autoimmune diseases
  • Bullous autoimmune dermatoses
    • Pemphigus vulgaris
    • Paraneoplastic pemphigus
    • IgA pemphigus
    • Bullous pemphigoid
    • Mucous membrane pemphigoid
    • Linear IgA dermatosis
    • Epidermolysis bullosa acquisita
    • Dermatitis herpetiformis Duhring
  • Collagenoses
    • Systemic scleroderma
    • Systemic lupus erythematosus
    • Dermatomyositis
    • Mixed connective tissue diseases
      • Systemic immunosuppressive therapy (in most cases)
      • Immunoadsorption
      • High dose immunoglobulin therapy (IVIG)
      • CD20 antibody therapy
• Diagnostics and treatment of genodermatoses
  • Neurofibromatosis
  • Congenital hemidysplasia with ichthyoid-like nevi and limb defects (CHILD syndrome)
  • Conradi-Hünermann syndrome
  • Focal dermal hypoplasia (Goltz-Gorlitz syndrome)
  • Follicular ichthyosis with atrichia and photophobia (IFAP syndrome)
  • Hailey–Hailey disease
  • Follicular dyskeratosis (Darier’s disease)
  • Bloch-Sulzberger syndrome
  • Disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis
• Laser therapy
  • Ablation procedures (for example, to remove warts, treat genetic skin diseases)
  • Coagulation procedures for the treatment of pathological changes in blood vessels
  • Removal of unwanted hair using a diode laser
• Light therapy
  • Photodynamic therapy (by daylight)
  • Laser therapy
  • UV light therapy
• Diagnostics and treatment of psoriasis
  • Local therapy
  • Light therapy
  • Classical systemic therapy
  • Advanced types of therapy
• Diagnostics and treatment of diseases of the mucous membranes
• Diagnostics and treatment of chronic wounds
• Dermatosurgery
  • Melanoma surgery, including removal of sentinel lymph nodes
  • Electrochemotherapy
  • Microscopically controlled surgery
  • Plastic reconstructive surgery
  • Skin transplantation
  • Acne inversa treatment
  • Dermabrasion
  • Chronic wound surgery
  • Axillary suction curettage
  • Rhinophyma treatment
• Diagnostics and treatment of allergic diseases
  • Insect venom allergy (bees, wasps)
  • Drug allergy
  • Contact allergy (allergy to ointments, creams, flavors, preservatives, etc.)
  • Food allergy
  • Allergic rhinoconjunctivitis
  • Bronchial asthma
  • Atopic eczema
  • Hives
  • Angioedema
  • Neurodermatitis
  • Occupational dermatoses
• Other diagnostic and therapeutic options