Although minor ailments form a large part of the work of a General Practitioner, relatively little is known about them. Important and life threatening diseases and syndromes get a lot of attention during medical education, whereas minor ailments, which form a much larger part of the GPs daily routine, hardly get any. However, the symptoms of these disorders often cause real problems and can be a burden to the patient.

The authors of this book have described the most frequently encountered complaints and disorders that do not pose a serious health threat, often have a good prognosis and have not been paid much attention during medical education or in scientific papers. The basic principle of this book is to provide relevant and reliable information on minor ailments, as far as possible based on scientific evidence. The 119 chapters have uniform format and are written in a crisp and concise way that make them easily accessible in daily practice.