Category Archives: American Academy of Dermatology

American Academy of Dermatology, Baricitinib

2022 AAD Annual Meeting

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— Yet another interesting conference will take place in Monaco from March 31-April 2 (h/t “Ben” yet again). It is the 20th edition of the Aesthetic & Anti-Aging Medicine World Congress.

Among the highlights (see full abstract here) will include:

  • An update from HairClone’s Dr. Paul Kemp.
  • Several presentations on exosomes for hair growth.
  • Several new reports of PRP reducing hair loss.
  • An interesting report form Dr. Pietro Gentile where he analyzes the benefits of hair follicle mesenchymal stem cell (HF-MSC) injections.
  • An update on ARTAS robotic hair transplants.

AAD 2022: Key Hair Loss Related Updates

— Update from AAD2022.

— Baricitinib JAK inhibitor leads to significant hair regrowth in Alopecia Areata patients. Dr. Brett King video. Amazing before and after photos, but we have seen similar results from other JAK inhibitors in the past.

Baricitinib Hair Growth
Baricitinib Hair Growth in Alopecia Areata Patients. Before and After. Source: Dr. Brett King et al in the New England Journal of Medicine.

— At AAD2022, Alma launched an ultrasound based laser system called Alma TED™. It benefits hair growth via improving blood flow. Also see my recent post on sound therapy for hair growth. Some before and after photos here.

— Update from the 2022 Oscars, where a hair loss issue leads to violence.

Introduction

American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Logo

The 2022 American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting will run from March 25, 2022-March 29, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. After being cancelled in 2020, this time it is an in-person event.

The AAD was founded in 1938 and currently counts most practicing dermatologists in the United States as members. In the past, I wrote about the 2016 AAD annual meeting and the 2018 AAD annual meeting. I also covered the lesser known Society for Investigative Dermatology (SID) conferences several times.

Make sure to follow on Twitter the AADmember account and the AADskin account for more information. #AAD2022.

2022 AAD Meeting Hair Loss Sessions

Unlike conferences focused solely on hair loss (e.g., WCHR, ISHRS, EHRS and AHRS), the AAD meetings include a wide range of dermatological conditions. Skin issues are of foremost importance.

Nevertheless, hair related sessions and posters (18 pages) are still numerous. The AAD hair loss sessions tend to focus more on existing treatments and recent developments and improvements in technology. You do not see much on long-term future developments.

Among the interesting presentations this time around include:

Disclosures and Corporate Affiliations

What I always find interesting in these conferences is the company affiliation disclosures. In some cases, hair loss product vendors provide fees to the presenters. In other cases, research funding and grants. And in other case, I assume just advisory support. Some of the “type of relationship” acronyms in the disclosure statements are not defined.

  • It is great to see Cassiopea so active. I still have hopes that Breezula will be at least as good as Minoxidil, while targeting an entirely different pathway.
  • Other hair loss companies that I have covered that are also mentioned as sponsors/funders/affiliates include AbbVie; Allergan; Almirall; Applied Biology; Follica and L’Oréal.
  • I find it interesting that low-level laser device manufacturers such as Capillus, HairMax LaserComb and Theradome are associated with so many of the researchers.
  • A number of smaller companies that I have discussed on this blog seem to be involved with a number of researchers. The most surprising of these is DS Laboratories.
  • The disclosure list of some of the scientists presenting is unbelievably lengthy. It is worth checking out Dr. Neil Saddick and Dr. Adelaide Hebert. Surprisingly, Dr. Ken Washenik only shows two companies (Cassiopea and Follica) in his disclosure list.
American Academy of Dermatology, African Hair, Ethnic Hair

2018 AAD Annual Meeting

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The field of dermatology is quite vast and encompasses diseases and conditions of the hair (both body and head), nails, scalp and skin. Nevertheless, at the annual meetings of all the major dermatological organizations around the world, there are always many interesting presentations related to head hair, which most concerns us.

The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) was founded in 1938 and currently counts virtually all practicing dermatologists in the United States as members. I wrote a post on the 2016 AAD annual meeting, but did not do so in 2017 (when instead I covered the annual meeting of SID). Interestingly, SID was founded in 1937, just one year before AAD.

This year’s upcoming 2018 AAD annual meeting will be hosted in San Diego and run from February 16-20. See program overview here. A detailed pdf of all the presentations can be found here. Below are some of the interesting things that I noticed after a cursory glance through the program:

  • I was very surprised to see so many renowned hair loss researchers disclosing their affiliation with Aclaris Therapeutics (probably via research finding or grants). I am hoping that at least several of these researchers are testing JAK inhibitors on androgenetic alopecia patients for Aclaris and not just testing them on alopecia areata patients. According to this page, among the researchers disclosing an affiliation with Aclaris include: 1) Dr. Elise Olsen; 2) Dr. Jerry Shapiro; 3) Dr. Rodney Sinclair; 4) Dr. Antonella Tosti;  and 5) Dr. Ken Washenik. The latter three of these are affiliated with an unbelievable number of companies that are working on a hair loss cure or treatment. Dr. Washenik’s presentation is titled: “Emerging treatments of androgenetic alopecia” and I would not be surprised in the least if he made a presentation by the exact same title 20 years ago (alongside the also ancient Dr. George Cotsarelis).
  • A significant number of presentations entail hair loss, hair disorders, hair care and hair styling in African Americans and other people of color, especially women. One of the presentation abstracts even suggests that hair loss in African American women is under-reported, under researched and currently an epidemic.
  • Related to the above, a majority of the hair related presentations seem to be led by women. Earlier conference presentations were dominated by men, but this has been changing rapidly in recent years as I have mentioned several times on this blog in the past. I guess men have been taking too long to bring about a hair loss cure, and, in the words of Mr. Bannon: “The anti-patriarchy movement is going to undo ten thousand years of recorded history“.
  • The highly regarded researcher Dr. Rox Anderson (covered here) is presenting on low-level laser therapy (LLLT) and hair growth alongside Dr. Maria Hordinsky and Dr. Ronda Farah. I have neglected LLLT (photobiomodulation) during the past year, but am glad to see that Dr. Anderson is still a believer in the technology. Usually, companies or people who are selling laser devices are the biggest proponents of LLLT, leaving much room for skepticism.