AAD 2023 Pearls from Zoe Diana Draelos, MD

On top of leading the research lab at Dermatology Consulting Services in High Point, North Carolina, Zoe Diana Draelos, MD, FAAD serves as the editor in chief of Dermatology Times®. She shares insight on the biggest takeaways from the 2023 American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Meeting in New Orleans, her session at the meeting, and what she looks forward to in the future of dermatologic care.

Dermatology Times: What are the big AAD takeaways, especially for a first-timer to the meeting?

Zoe Diana Draelos, MD: Dermatology is very fortunate to have had a huge burst in research, especially in the immunology area. We now have immunologics for psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, topical JAK inhibitors, oral JAK inhibitors. We have many different products that interrupt the inflammatory pathway at many different stages. So, what the young dermatologist wants to take home is to learn about the new drugs, to learn how to use the new drugs, and to be able to select those patients that will optimally improve on the many, many options that are now available for disease treatment.

Dermatology Times: In the midst of a research boom, do you think there is an area of dermatology that could use additional research?

Draelos: We haven't had a whole lot of advances in acne and acne is one of the top 4 conditions that we commonly treat. We're still treating acne by killing the c. acnes through antibiotics and benzyl peroxides. We need a mechanism of inhibiting the inflammatory response to c. acnes, or by actually altering the microbiome on the skin surface to decrease the population of c. acnes, which is the disease causing agent. So acne, even though we understand the mechanisms very well for that disease, we haven't had a lot of new treatments and that's that's the next nut to crack.

Dermatology Times: Tell us about pearls from your session "The Science of Cosmeceuticals and Nutraceuticals."

Draelos: This is an important area in dermatology even though it's outside the prescription realm, it's in the OTC realm. Patients have a lot of questions about these products. So nutraceuticals or oral supplements, there are many of them out there, especially for hair growth. The take home messages is many of them are incomplete multivitamins without minerals. So in many ways, the best way to eat for healthy skin is to eat something of every color every day because all vitamins have a color. In the cosmeceutical realm, we have lots of new interesting treatments that are based on adapting the body's own mechanisms for anti aging, for example, using your own stem cells for treatment of the aging face, using platelet rich plasma to stimulate hair growth. And on the flip side, we now have a lot of engineered peptides that can redirect cellular functioning to make younger cells behave like even younger sales and older cells to behave like younger cells. So the whole arena of anti aging is really undergoing a lot of introspective research looking at mechanisms of aging, and how to stop those.

Dermatology Times: In your leading role with Dermatology Times, what value does the content offer to clinicians?

Draelos: Well, I have very much enjoyed being the editor in chief of Dermatology Times. I think my goal and the goal of the publisher and all those who excellently write for the book is to really capsulize the information that you need to have now, if you're not reading Dermatology Times, you're not seeing the most cutting edge information that's out there. So, the goal of Dermatology Times is to report here and now information that's going to take 6 months to a year to publish in a peer reviewed journal. So it's your first glimpse of what's new, and what things you're going to see developing over the next several months. Then maybe a year later, you'll read an article in a well-published journal about the same topic. Knowing what's happening now—that's critical to being a really good dermatologist.

Dermatology Times: In addition to dermatology, you enjoy writing. What are you working on?

Draelos: I've enjoyed being a dermatologist for 30 years, and love it as much now as I did the first day I went out into practice. One of the things that I really enjoy doing is writing. So for young dermatologists that are interested in understanding skincare products, my column in Dermatology Times, Cosmetic Conundrums, that's that's an important read. Most recently, the fourth edition of Cosmeceuticals came out and also Dermatology Cosmetics and Procedures; that fourth edition just released as well. So, those two books really provide insight into people who want to better understand the skincare and haircare and nail care world in dermatology.

Transcript has been edited for clarity.

Disclosures

According to the AAD Annual Meeting, Dr. Draelos has the following disclosures: Abbott Laboratories (investigator, grants/research funding), Actavis (investigator, grants/research funding), AGI Dermatics (investigator, grants/research funding), Allergan, Inc. (investigator, grants/research funding), AmDerma Pharmaceuticals, LLC (investigator, grants/research funding), Amgen (investigator, grants/research funding), Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC (investigator, grants/research funding), AstraZeneca (investigator, grants/research funding), Avon Products, Inc. (investigator, grants/research funding), Bayer (investigator, grants/research funding), Bayer Consumer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals (investigator, grants/research funding), Beiersdorf, Inc. (investigator, grants/research funding), Boots (consultant, grants/research funding), Celgene Corporation (investigator, grants/research funding), Chattem, Inc. (investigator, grants/research funding), Colgate-Palmolive (investigator, grants/research funding), Dermira (investigator, grants/research funding), Dial Corporation (investigator, grants/research funding), Eli Lilly and Company (investigator, grants/research funding), Elizabeth Arden (investigator, grants/research funding), Exeltis (investigator, grants/research funding), Galderma Laboratories, L.P. (investigator, grants/research funding), GlaxoSmithKline (investigator, grants/research funding), Glenmark Generics Inc. (investigator, grants/research funding), Guthy-Renker (investigator, grants/research funding), Helix BioMedix (investigator, grants/research funding), Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Company (investigator, grants/research funding), Kao Brands (investigator, grants/research funding), Kimberly Clark (investigator, grants/research funding), Kythera (investigator, grants/research funding), L'Oreal USA Inc. (investigator, grants/research funding), La Roche-Posay Laboratoire Pharmaceutique (investigator, grants/research funding), Lexington International LLC (investigator, grants/research funding), Living Proof, Inc (investigator, grants/research funding), Lumity (investigator, grants/research funding), MakuCell, Inc. (investigator, grants/research funding), Maruho Co., Ltd (investigator, grants/research funding), Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation (investigator, grants/research funding), Merck & Co., Inc. (investigator, grants/research funding), Merz Pharmaceuticals, LLC (investigator, grants/research funding), Mimetica Pty. Limited (investigator, grants/research funding), Neocutis (investigator, grants/research funding), Neutrogena Corporation (investigator, grants/research funding), Niadyne (investigator, grants/research funding), Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. (investigator, grants/research funding), Nuskin (investigator, grants/research funding), Oculus (investigator, grants/research funding), Onset Therapeutics (investigator, grants/research funding), Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd (investigator, grants/research funding), Pacific Biosciences (investigator, grants/research funding), Perrigo Company (investigator, grants/research funding), Pfizer Inc. (investigator, grants/research funding), Procter & Gamble Company (investigator, grants/research funding), Promius Pharma, LLC (investigator, grants/research funding), Quinnova Pharmaceutials (investigator, grants/research funding), Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (investigator, grants/research funding), RECKITT BENCKISER (ESPANA), S.L. (investigator, grants/research funding), Revance Therapeutics (investigator, grants/research funding), Revision Skincare (investigator, grants/research funding), Signum Biosciences, Inc. (investigator, grants/research funding), SkinMedica, Inc. (investigator, grants/research funding), Sun Products Corporation (investigator, grants/research funding), Suneva Medical, Inc. (investigator, grants/research funding), Symrise (investigator, grants/research funding), Syneron, Inc. (investigator, grants/research funding), Taro Pharm (investigator, grants/research funding), Teva Pharmaceuticals USA (investigator, grants/research funding), Tolmar (investigator, grants/research funding), Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (investigator, grants/research funding), Vichy Laboratories (investigator, grants/research funding).