Sherry Yang, MD, FAAD, is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She completed her dermatology residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, where she served as chief resident during her last year of training. She started her career in academic medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in 2015 and is currently the Associate Residency Program Director and Director of the Hidradenitis Suppurativa Specialty Clinic.

Dr Yang led a session on Hidradenitis Suppurativa on day 2 of the SDPA 2021 Annual Fall Dermatology Conference.

In this video, Dr Sherry Yang discusses how individualizing treatment plans for each patient is one of the best approaches to combatting HS symptoms.

Transcript
Dr Yang:  We try to individualize new plans and use therapies that are targeted towards a patient's triggers or their specific phenotype. Taking a detailed menstrual history can reveal the patient has undiagnosed polycystic ovarian syndrome, or hormonally driven HS flares, in which case I'm more likely to prescribe metformin, spironolactone, or birth control pills.

Patients who have evidence of more follicular plugging, and comedones on exam, a lot of inflammation, are unlikely to respond to oral antibiotics or biologics, so I tend to avoid that. Patients who have severe stage three disease will benefit from surgery after medical optimization, so I have a very low threshold to referring them to my surgical colleagues.

Regardless of which treatment is chosen, it's important to be upfront with your patients that much of the process is trial and error, so they need to be willing to work with you to find the right budget for them.