Elevate West Conference 2024 Day 3
The energy from the previous evening’s Swiftie-themed networking event carried over into the third morning of the Elevate-Derm West Conference. The day started with Drs. Hawkes and Song take to the stage to discuss challenging atopic dermatitis and pruritic cases. The duo concurred that patch testing should be considered for any atopic dermatitis patient who is not responding to dupilumab treatment and that JAK inhibitors can be used as rescue therapy in cases of severe AD refractory to dupilumab. After breakfast, The Elevate-Derm Alliance Leaders headed to the stage where Douglas DiRuggiero, DMSc, PA-C, presented the well-accomplished Margaret Bobonich, DNP, FNP-C, DCNP, FAANP, with the third annual Stead-Silver-Ford Honorary Lecture Award. Then, Dr. Swanson returned to the podium with a presentation about Text Messages to a Pediatric Dermatologist, where she discussed pictures and cases from consults and shared her favorite treatment for babies and toddlers with difficult-to-treat facial eczema, the Aron regimen. It is compounded with 30 grams of betamethasone valerate 0.1, 24 grams of mupirocin cream, and 400 grams of vanicream or plastibase (makes a one-pound tub). She cautions that prescribing the components separately for the family mix themselves is not the same and not nearly as effective. Then, Dr. Jason Hawkes rounded out the morning with another informative talk about the Evolution of Psoriasis Therapies, making mention of an oral IL-23 receptor inhibitor currently being studied for the treatment of psoriasis and is showing promising results in phase three clinical trials.
After lunch, the Elevate-Derm Alliance leaders returned to the stage to have the live drawing for the highly anticipated live Exhibitor Bingo awards raffle, where many great prizes such as Amazon gift cards, Yeti products, Apple products, and the final grand prize of conference registration with a four-night hotel stay at the 2025 Elevate-Derm Fall conference in Tampa, Florida. The high energy from the awards raffle spilled over to where the much-awaited dermoscopy series began, with Dr. Ash Marghoob delivering four lectures for clinicians to hone their skills with a dermatoscope. He taught attendees about dermatoscopic findings specific to malignant melanoma, including annular granular patterns, isobars (circle within a circle), radial projections arising from follicular openings, angulated lines and polygons, blotches, and vessels. He also lent the audience pro tips around mucosal exams, such as the typical presentation of mucosal melanoma as an asymmetric, disorganized lesion under dermoscopy that generally has 2 to 3 colors and two or more structures. To close out the afternoon, Dr. Jenny Murase spoke about Dermatoses of Pregnancy, which include atopic eruption of pregnancy, polymorphic eruption of pregnancy, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, pemphigoid gestationis, and pustular psoriasis of pregnancy. Finally, Dr. Swanson returned to the stage to discuss lesions in the pediatric patient. She recommended considering topical timolol 0.5% to treat pyogenic granuloma in children and follow up in one month to make sure it is getting better, if not improved, then a biopsy would be appropriate.
Conference-goers closed out the last evening of the conference with a patio reception to exchange anecdotes over cocktails and light bites as they networked with each other and faculty outside, with the beautiful Arizona desert sunset as the backdrop to the event.
