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Opinion
Video
Steroidal and Nonsteroidal Treatment Options for Dermatologic Conditions
Darren West, MPAS, PA-C; and Jayme M. Heim, MSN, FNP-BC, comment on how steroids continue to fit into the topical treatment armamentarium.
Linda F. Stein Gold, MD: Hello. I’m Dr Linda Stein Gold. I’m the director of dermatology clinical research at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan. And I’m also a medical dermatologist. I’m joined by two of my colleagues, and we’re going to do a recap from a recent roundtable that took place in Las Vegas[, Nevada,] where we talked about…the continued importance of topical corticosteroids in our topical treatment armamentarium. And I’m going to let my colleagues introduce themselves. Jayme, go ahead.
Jayme M. Heim, MSN, FNP-BC: Hi, I’m Jayme Heim and I’m a nurse practitioner and I practice out of Grandville, Michigan.
Darren West, MPAS, PA-C: Hi. Yes. And I’m Darren West and I practice in Scottsdale, Arizona. I’ve been practicing roughly 23-plus years. So, very happy to be here tonight to discuss.
Linda F. Stein Gold, MD: So, I don’t mind kicking it off. And we’ve had this influx of new treatment options in the arena for topical therapy of what has been steroid-responsive dermatomyositis, including psoriasis and even atopic dermatitis—and with these new nonsteroidal options that have come into our treatment armamentarium. But [I’m] just going to take a step back and pose it to the two of you. Are steroids still relevant or do you think at this point we’ve gotten past them where they don’t have a relevance anymore? Darren, go ahead. What do you think?
Darren West, MPAS, PA-C: Thanks for asking that question. You know, this question is going to come up more…over the next few months and years. No, I don’t think steroids are becoming obsolete. I think that we will always need them in our armamentarium. I think there will always be a place for them. You know, I am welcoming every new product out there by all means. I really love that research and development is coming up with new things. I appreciate all this research and it helps our profession in general that we do have them. I think…the steroids will always fit into our armamentarium because there are [patients who] just cannot have access or gain access to some of the newer medications…. [S]econdly, we have tried and tested topical corticosteroids…over the last 50 (to) 70 years since the 1950s.… A steroid is a product that we’ve had forever. So, no, they’re not going away. They’re staying put. I like them. It doesn’t mean I’m going to always use them. But…I would like to be able to use the steroid sometimes maybe in the beginning, maybe to bridge it to the next level of therapy, which would be some of these newer modalities. And then we just find a happy place for everything to exist. Everything needs to just kind of coexist….
Linda F. Stein Gold, MD: Great. Jayme, do you have similar thoughts, or do you take a different position?
Jayme M. Heim, MSN, FNP-BC: Absolutely. I have similar thoughts. In fact,…steroids are the gold standard of therapy. We’re not going to get away from using steroid medication for several disease processes. And even if we have patients [who] are well controlled on even biologic therapy lots of times for flares we do use a topical steroid. And sometimes even some of these newer agents aren’t as effective as a topical steroid. So, we need everything in our arsenal, and it’s nice to have everything available to use.
Transcript is AI-generated and edited for clarity and readability.
