23rd World Congress of Dermatology

The 23rd World Congress of Dermatology starts in Vancouver, Canada on June 8, 2015 and will end on June 13, 2015. It is run by the International League of Dermatological Societies (ILDS). The ILDS is an umbrella organization for professional dermatology organizations of all sizes around the world. You can follow their Twitter account for conference updates.

Unlike the ISHRS or AAD meetings, I was not paying too much attention to this conference before. This is because when I first browsed through their website, it seemed like most of the subjects would be non-hair related.

However, when I went through their website in more detail today, I noticed that the Congress President is a well known hair transplant surgeon by the name of Dr. Jerry Shapiro. More importantly, one of the main (plenary) sessions in this edition will be presented by the esteemed Dr. Elaine Fuchs. I have discussed her a few times on this blog before. Among the main sponsors of the Congress include L’Oréal and Allergan.

There is a workshop on hair biology on Tuesday that will be led by the renowned Dr. George Cotsarelis, Replicel’s scientist Dr. Kevin McElwee and Dr. Amos Gilhar of Israel. This might end up being the most interesting part of the conference for blog readers.

There is an interesting presentation on the neglected field of ethnic hair disorders by South African professor Nonhlanhla Khumalo. Lebanese doctor Mazen Kurban (who has co-authored a book chapter with Dr. Angela Christiano in the past) will present on genetic hair and nail disorders.

Other presentations of interest include: one on hair disorders; one on hair transplants; one on telogen effluvium; and one on cicatricial alopecias.

Several of the laser light therapy related presentations will hopefully also discuss their increasing use for re-growing scalp hair. Like FDA cleared devices such as the HairMax Lasercomb and the Theradome Helmet for example.

Also of note, new skin regeneration related technologies can often also regenerate hair follicles and sweat glands. Ultimately, a lot of fields within dermatology are related to each other.