Dermatology Week 2022: Revolutionary Updates and Insights for Today’s Providers

Dermatology Week 2022 Spring consisted of 4 days filled with professional lectures from experts within the specialty, including live Q&As and networking opportunities. The senior advisors for the meeting were Steven R. Feldman, MD, PhD, from Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC, and Joel M. Gelfand, MD, MSCE, from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA. The cochairs included Hilary Baldwin, MD; Jordan Carqueville, MD; Brian S. Kim, MD, MTR, FAAD; Shawn Kwatra, MD, FAAD; Roger S. Lo, MD, PhD; Mital Patel-Cohen, MD; and Ruth Ann Vleugels, MD, MPH, MBA.

The lectures encompassed a variety of dermatologic developments, including:

• Management of psoriasis with topical medications

• Systemic therapies in pediatric dermatology

• Emerging treatments for alopecia areata (AA)

• Cosmetic surgery’s impact on quality of life

• Up and coming treatments for rosacea

• IL-13 inhibitors for treating atopic dermatitis (AD)

• The use of Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors in dermatology

• Impact of itch in AD

• Diagnosis and management of photodermatoses

At the beginning of his session on managing poor adherence to topical psoriasis treatments,¹ Dr Feldman explained, “Despite all the existing treatments for localized psoriasis, we have a lot of patients whose localized psoriasis is not clearing up.” He went on to discuss the implications of poor adherence, noting that many patients are failing topical steroids because they are not using them. Furthermore, Dr Feldman reminded physicians that “the goal is not just to get the right diagnosis and prescribe the right treatment, the goal is to get patients well. And to do that, [the physician] also has to have the skill to get patients to use their medicine well.” He added, “In addition to having new topical therapies, you have to do the things you need to do to get patients to use their medicine well.”

Another session, presented by Brett King, MD, PhD, covered the pathogenesis and treatment of AA.² After touching on various studies that highlighted the advances in understanding AA pathogenesis and the role of JAK inhibitors, Dr King stated, “Every single week, every single month, there are new reports of patients treated with off -label use of JAK inhibitors showing quite dramatic results.” He added that the results, presented in a series of images he showcased, have been astounding and have had an important impact on patients who went from being “ghosts of themselves” to living a relatively normal life.

In another session on new and upcoming treatments for rosacea,³ including minocycline and microencapsulated benzoyl peroxide, Linda Stein Gold, MD, suggested, “In order to understand the best treatment options, it is important to understand the pathogenesis of the disease.” She then recommended, “When we think about the treatment options, often patients manifest with a number of different signs and symptoms of rosacea, so often we will mix and match treatments in order to really get a more comprehensive approach to treatment.”

As Dermatology Week concluded, one of the final sessions focused on hidradenitis suppurativa (HS),⁴ as presented by Ginette A. Okoye, MD, FAAD. She reviewed the epidemiology and health disparities in HS, the latter for which she noted, “This issue of health disparities in HS is an interesting and complex one.” Dr Okoye pointed out, “We already have an increased prevalence and severity of this disease in an already underserved and disadvantage group of patients, and so the question is why? Why does this happen?” She indicated that when it comes to disparities, they are often not linked to biological reasons; in fact, they are usually the result of social determinants of health and social issues. Dr Okoye shared cases where prevalent biological differences may impact the disease state, such as hair follicle biology and propensity for fibrosis, giving participants some food for thought on how to achieve inclusivity when it comes to treating HS.

For more on the event, including its upcoming fall sessions, please visit https://dermatologyweek.com