Eczema’s Big Break in Hollywood

The Night Of, an HBO miniseries released in 2016, made waves as a social commentary of racial prejudices plaguing the American criminal justice system. As a dermatology resident, I was equally struck by the amount of attention paid to John Turturro's character's (Jack Stone) eczema. Stone is an attorney desperate to show off his legal prowess in a big case, and he gets his chance after Nasir Khan (Riz Ahmed) is convicted of murdering a young girl he met earlier that night. A total of 15 minutes of the show over 8 episodes focus on Stone's eczema. Richard Price, a writer for the show, used eczema as "a metaphor for the frustrations of finding a solution and the entire judicial system." Patients affected by atopic dermatitis can relate to Stone's constant battle with the disease, and the scenes are accurate portrayals of the experience of many patients with eczema.