Inside Health Folgen

In Inside Health tonight, Dr Mark Porter tackles the confusion and prejudice that surrounds the skin condition Vitiligo - famously said to have been the reason why Michael Jackson skin looked so light. Max Pemberton discovers why surgeons may be wearing masks for their benefit rather than their patients.And Margaret McCartney reminds doctors who tweet to proceed with caution - posting photographs of the first patient you've anaesthetised is likely to get you into trouble!

10 million prescriptions for sleeping pills are written every year in England. So how alarmed should we be over new American research suggesting that people who take them are more likely to die than those who don't? Dr Mark Porter speaks to a leading British sleep expert about the findings and asks what the alternatives are.An Inside Health listener asked us to investigate how safe "electronic" cigarettes are. So Dr Max Pemberton, who uses them himself, talked to Professor John Britton from the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies at the University of Nottingham about these currently unregulated products. Rumours abound that a tobacco manufacturer is about to launch the world's first so-called "safe" cigarette. But smokers' reactions are mixed and some prefer other products like nicotine gum.GP Margaret McCartney's column is about whether your doctor's dietary preferences and habits influence your well being.Half of all pregnancies in the UK are unplanned, so women and their babies lose out on important supplements like folic acid to help prevent spina bifida. But for women with an underactive thyroid gland it's even more important that they do their best for their baby by increasing their thyroxine dose as soon as they know they're pregnant. But research from Leicester shows that women often fall through the gaps when seeking care - as GPs, midwives and consultants often think someone else is helping these women.Producer: Paula McGrath.

Dr Mark Porter demystifies the health issues that perplex us and separates the facts from the fiction. He brings clarity to conflicting health advice, explores new medical research and tackles the big health issue of the moment revealing the inner workings of the medical profession and the daily dilemmas doctors face.As new figures published show that 1 in 7 women in England continue to smoke during pregnancy, Inside Health investigates a pilot incentive scheme - which gives women just over £750 worth of vouchers if they give up, and stay off cigarettes for at least 6 months after they give birth. What is the evidence that these incentive schemes work?And what about incentives encouraging doctors to ask whether a patient smokes, or check their blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Dr Margaret McCartney explains why she is one of many GPs who are uncomfortable with the way incentives can influence practicePlus if you've been plagued by a recurring dry tickly cough, it could be caused by a widely used family of blood pressure drug - the ACE inhibitors. Mark Porter investigates.And although it's been slightly warmer that's likely to be cold comfort for 10 million people in the UK with Raynaud's disease where the fingers turn ghostly white after exposure to temperature changes .Presenter: Dr Mark Porter Producer: Erika Wright.