We meet again.
From the Editor
Dr. Schwarzenberger is the former physician editor of DermWorld.
By Kathryn Schwarzenberger, MD, FAAD, July 1, 2023
2023 is racing by and I feel like DermWorld has only begun to cover all the interesting and important topics on our editorial calendar. I was asked how we choose the topics we cover in our magazine each month. Ideas for articles come from a variety of sources: our members, our DermWorld Editorial Advisory Workgroup, our AAD leaders, and our many dedicated AAD staff members, who have their fingers on the pulse of our organization. Once a year, DermWorld staff meet and hash through all the suggestions; we also brainstorm to come up with other relevant topics we feel might be of interest to our readers. From this we create our annual editorial calendar. New and important topics that arise during the year are added in when we feel they should be addressed quickly. We strive to cover a broad range of subjects, some clinical, others focused more on practice and policy issues, all of which we hope are relevant to our members.
This month, we asked our writers to delve into the world of nutritional supplements. Nutritional supplements abound, and many of your patients are likely using them, either with or without your blessing. Unfortunately, there are many unknowns about many of the available supplements, the least of which may be a lack of transparency about the ingredients contained within them. Data for their efficacy in treating the condition for which they are taken are not always robust, but that does not seem to affect their popularity. We talked with some of our members who share their expertise about this topic; among the concerns raised is that some herbal products may have immunostimulatory effects, which can adversely affect some of the autoimmune diseases we treat, such as lupus. I have often recommended to my patients that they approach nutritional supplements cautiously, not because I believe that they do not do anything, but because they might very well be biologically active. Unfortunately, in many cases, we have not fully studied them to know what these effects might be.
This article offered a nice segue to our next feature, which reviews newer treatments available for some of the connective tissue diseases we manage, including lupus, dermatomyositis, and systemic sclerosis. Our specialty shares management of many of these patients with rheumatology; however, we are lucky to have experts among our ranks with unique knowledge about many of these new drugs (or newly approved uses for old treatments, including IVIg) that might be potentially available to treat some of our most challenging conditions.
Our final feature this month continues our leadership theme, looking at the evolution of mentorship within our specialty. Over the past few decades, mentorships have grown from informal interactions to more active and involved relationships which address a wide variety of needs. The AAD, as well as other dermatology specialty societies, recognizes the benefit of mentorship, offering many opportunities to engage. Mentoring is a win-win proposition for all involved.
It seems like we just got done with the Annual Meeting, and the summer Innovation Academy is almost upon us. I do hope that many of you are planning to join us in in Tampa this August for what I am certain will be another exciting meeting. (In full disclosure, I do serve on the Scientific Assembly Committee, so I have insider knowledge and, might be just a tad bit biased…) I was blown away by the many outstanding submissions from our members whose expertise in many diverse areas of dermatology continues to amaze me. Our specialty is in good hands going forward!
