When to Increase Therapy in Refractory HS Cases

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 when to increase therapy in refractory cases of HS.

TRANSCRIPT-

Dr. Sherry Yang:  Defining what refractory means, I tried to split that into are they developing new lesions, or are they having recurrence or persistence of pre-existing lesions? If they are continuing to develop new areas of involvement or new lesions, then I'm more likely to pursue escalation to a biologic.

However, if they're having recurrent flares in the same areas, that usually indicates persistence of sinus tracts, which I tend to manage more with intralesional steroid injections, deroofing, or excision.