The heat of the Olympic Games is on. Every nation from all the corners of the world is on high in preparing their representatives for the greatest gaming and sports event in the world. It seems that everyone is “thrilled for victory” and afraid of the “agony of defeat”. However, there are also some conditions that may affect the conditions of the athletes.

There are certain skin conditions that come out as one of the athletes’ most common complaints. The problem is that there is little information regarding the dermatoses that these athletes experience. That’s according to the studies made by the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. So we go the experts.
According to Jacqueline F. De Luca, M.D., who is a former Olympic medalist turned physician and a resident in dermatology department at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, in the research fellowship program her team found little literature or resources about sports-related dermatoses among Olympic athletes. The results of their findings were summarized in to an article which was shown in the April issue of a journal called Sports Medicine. De Luca said, "Dermatological conditions are an increasing cause of medical problems for Olympic athletes and can be harmful and even prohibitive for competition, but our review did not find a wealth of medical literature in this area, this is unfortunate because although most athletes present with many common and easily identifiable dermatoses, rarer sports-related conditions also exist that may confound some physicians and create the potential for misdiagnosis and unnecessary procedures."

She also said that early detection is very much important for athletes to compete in their full potential. The researchers reviewed the skin ailments per general categories of Olympic events. One is Endurance which includes marathon runners, cyclists, and swimming. Another is resistance which includes games like boxing, judo and weight lifting. Next are team sports like basketball, tennis and soccer. Last would be performing arts which include diving, gymnastics, and synchronized swimming.
According to the co-author of the study, Brian Adams, MD, Summer Games athletes can be affected by skin diseases of simple and easy-to-treat types like rashes, calluses and blisters up to the more complicated conditions like skin cancers and infections on the skin. The bad thing about this is that some dermatoses can become epidemic among the team and may make distractions in their activities. He said, "The extreme nature of their training, and their constant environmental exposures to heat, sweat, trauma, sun and other factors, can lead to health issues that affect their performance ability. That's true for all athletes; the upcoming summer Olympics is a great opportunity to highlight the skin issues that can afflict athletes everywhere."

According to Dr. Maxine Tabas of http://dermatologywinterpark.com, “This is a very serious issue and should reach the knowledge of everyone in the sports industry.”

The opening ceremonies for the London Summer Olympics will be on July 27, 2012.