Game-Changing Insights on Itch, Psoriatic Disease, and Innovations With Mona Shahriari, MD, FAAD

At this year’s Fall Clinical Dermatology Conference, Mona Shahriari, MD, FAAD, an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Yale University and the associate director of clinical trials at Central Connecticut Dermatology Research, shared pearls for itch, psoriasis, skin of color, and the future of dermatology.

Shahriari presented several sessions, including, "Making the Connection Between Prurigo Nodularis, Atopic Dermatitis, and Itch," "Practical Insights and Pitfalls for Psoriatic Disease in Skin of Color: Early Diagnosis for Effective Treatment," and more.

She spoke with Dermatology Times to share the top clinical pearls and key takeaways from her sessions.

Transcript

Mona Shahriari, MD, FAAD: I'm Mona Shahriari. I'm an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Yale University and the associate director of clinical trials at CCD research. This week, I'm very excited to be speaking at the 44th Annual Fall Clinical Dermatology Conference in Las Vegas. This isn't just another conference. It's where we discuss the latest innovations in dermatology, emerging trends, and offer some game-changing practical tips that will help elevate your practice and really help your patients like never before. I always say, "What happens in Vegas transforms dermatology." I really hope that if you guys can't make it even this year, definitely try to come live or virtually next year.

I in particular will be talking at 3 CME sessions. Two of them are for the Fall Clinical conference, and there's a simultaneous advanced practitioner conference called the Inflammatory Disease Summit that's going on on-site where I'm also going to be speaking.

My first talk will be on making the connection between prurigo nodularis, atopic dermatitis, and itch. In this engaging session, we're going to simplify the complex pathways that lead to itch in both prurigo nodularis and atopic dermatitis, and why it's really important as clinicians to ask our patients about their itch and its impact on their life to really optimize their management. The reality is that what we see clinically on the skin doesn't tell the whole story, and we have studies that show even when patients have completely clear skin, they still need high levels of itch control to really see that meaningful impact on their quality of life as well as on their sleep. We'll go through some of the different agents out there for both atopic dermatitis and prurigo nodularis that will help those patients meet their itch goals, and some practical tips in terms of, "How do you prescribe them? What are some monitoring tips to keep in mind, safety, efficacy, all those goodies?" We're going to take a case-based approach to make it much easier to digest.

Another talk that I'm giving is on practical insights and pitfalls for psoriatic disease in skin of color. We're going to discuss the disparities that exist in the diagnosis and management of psoriatic disease in skin of color, and really the importance of collaborative care to ensure that we treat the whole patient, since that multidimensional burden of disease isn't necessarily evident when we examine our patients. We're going to go through a case-based approach where we're going to diagnose and treat psoriatic disease and skin of color and talk about some of the challenges that clinicians may have with just the simple diagnosis and management of the disease. We're going to go through some recent improvements in our clinical trial data, because historically, skin of color patients were underrepresented in our clinical trials for psoriasis and actually all across dermatology, and now there's more of a movement to inclusivity in our clinical trials. Finally, we're going to walk through who you want to collaborate with to really ensure your patients are treated appropriately. Spoiler alert, rheumatologists and primary care physicians are my top 1 and 2, but depending on the patient's comorbidities, there may be other specialists that you want to have on board, as well.

As I mentioned, there is a simultaneous Inflammatory Disease Summit that's happening on site in Vegas. It's for advanced practitioners, and during that session, I'm going to be reviewing everything you ever want to know about JAK inhibitors in 15 minutes, so really wish me luck on that. But the key things we're going to talk about are the structure and the function of the JAK inhibitors, how they play a role in revolutionizing how we treat a whole host of different diseases in dermatology, and also the box warning, as well as how you monitor these patients, because we really know that is the biggest baggage that comes with this class, which has been extremely pivotal to patient care in the field of dermatology.

Just an honorable mention, I am going to be speaking at a sponsored session where we're going to review how deucravacinib, a selective TYK2 inhibitor and the newest addition to our psoriasis treatment toolbox, can really help your patients with plaque psoriasis achieve their goals of clearer skin itch control, as well as we're going to talk about some special sites: how these medications work in the scalp and the palms and soles, and also go through some photos to really make it practical for your day-to-day practice. I hope you guys join us there.

[Transcript has been edited for clarity.]

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