TRANSFORM YOUR SKIN HEALTH: DIET AND LIFESTYLE TAKE CENTER STAGE AT 2025 AAD ANNUAL MEETING

ORLANDO, Fla., March 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2025 American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting will take place March 7-11 in Orlando. The meeting will feature nearly 300 educational sessions with more than 1,700 speakers discussing the latest research on skin, hair, and nails, including topics on how diet and lifestyle can transform skin health, eczema management, and insights into aging skin.

A New Era in Skin Health: GLP-1 Medications

Your skin is often a window to your overall health, including underlying inflammatory and metabolic conditions. New treatments, like GLP-1 medications commonly used for weight loss, can help manage obesity, reduce inflammation, and improve skin conditions, highlighting how board-certified dermatologists are advancing personalized care.

• Inflammation and Skin Conditions Are Linked: Obesity often causes inflammation that can worsen or trigger skin conditions like psoriasis, eczema, and hidradenitis suppurativa, a chronic disease that causes painful lumps to form under the skin.
• GLP-1 Medications and Your Skin: While originally developed to treat diabetes and, more recently, promote weight loss, GLP-1 medications can reduce inflammation caused by obesity and improve certain skin conditions.
• A New Era of Dermatology: Treating conditions like obesity can bring about a healthier 'you' and help skin treatments work better, leading to more complete care.

Lindsey Bordone, MD, FAAD, an assistant professor of dermatology at Columbia University Department of Dermatology, can discuss the connection between obesity and skin health, and how addressing your overall health can benefit your skin and well-being.

The Role of Diet in Managing Eczema

Many people believe that food is the root cause of atopic dermatitis, commonly known as eczema, which can result in dry, itchy skin. However, the relationship between diet and this common skin condition is more complex than it seems. New research is shedding light on how diet influences eczema – which affects nearly one in ten Americans – and empowers patients to make more informed choices.

• Cutting Foods Isn't a Cure-All: For most patients, simply eliminating certain foods doesn't significantly improve eczema symptoms, despite common misconceptions.
• The Role of a Healthy Diet: Emphasizing overall healthy eating and avoiding allergens can still play an important role in managing eczema.
• Early Allergen Introduction: Introducing allergenic foods early in life may help build tolerance, offering a powerful shift in how people manage their eczema.

Peter A. Lio, MD, FAAD, a clinical assistant professor of dermatology at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, can provide evidence-based strategies for managing eczema through diet and lifestyle.

How Diet Can Enhance the Effectiveness of Skin Treatments

The foods you eat play a vital role in how well medications work for skin conditions and can even help to minimize possible side effects. By making thoughtful dietary choices, you can support your skin health, maximize the effectiveness of treatments for skin disease, and improve your overall health.

• Optimize Treatment with Nutrition: The Mediterranean diet, which encourages people to eat plant-based foods, and omega-3 fats, can help make biologic treatments for psoriasis more effective, while also reducing heart disease risks associated with this common skin condition.
• Support Immunotherapy with Fiber: For advanced melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, a diet rich in fiber from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains enhances the effectiveness of immunotherapy, a cancer treatment that uses the patient's own immune system to fight the disease. At the same time, patients should avoid probiotic supplements, which can make treatments less effective.
• Complement Therapy with Supplements: For those who suffer from acne, omega-3 supplements improve the absorption of isotretinoin, a common acne medication, and minimize its side effects.
• Steven Daveluy, MD, FAAD, an associate professor of dermatology at Wayne State University in Dearborn, Michigan, details how your diet can work alongside your treatment plan for healthier skin and a healthier you.

Understanding Itch: A Window into Aging Skin

Itch is the most common symptom for which patients over 50 visit a dermatologist. Importantly, recent scientific breakthroughs and treatment innovations are revolutionizing dermatologists' understanding and management of this condition. More than a symptom, itch offers valuable insights into how the immune system, nervous system, and skin barrier – the outermost layer of skin that serves as a protective shield for the body – change as we age.

• Increasingly More Common and Severe: Itch becomes more common and severe with age, significantly impacting quality of life, including sleep, daily activities, and our ability to care for others.
• Complicated Causes in Older Adults: Diagnosing the cause of itch in older adults is harder because visual signs and lab clues are less definitive. This can result in undertreatment.
• Evolving Treatments: While there are no FDA-approved medications specifically for itch, dermatologists have a variety of treatments at hand to address its effects, including moisturizers as well as topical ointments, phototherapy, biologics – which target diseases throughout your body and neurologic treatments like nerve creams and oral medications.

Daniel C. Butler, MD, FAAD, an assistant dean and an associate professor of dermatology at University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, can discuss the types of personalized treatment options dermatologists recommend for patients who struggle with persistent itch.

If you have questions about a skin, hair, or nail condition, consult a board-certified dermatologist to ensure you receive trusted, expert guidance tailored to your needs.

About the AAD

Headquartered in Rosemont, Ill., the American Academy of Dermatology, founded in 1938, is the largest, most influential and most representative of all dermatologic associations. With a membership of more than 21,000 physicians worldwide, the AAD is committed to advancing the diagnosis and medical, surgical, and cosmetic treatment of the skin, hair, and nails; advocating high standards in clinical practice, education and research in dermatology; and supporting and enhancing patient care because skin, hair, and nail conditions can have a serious impact on your health and well-being. For more information, contact the AAD at (888) 462-DERM (3376) or aad.org. Follow @AADskin on Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube, and @AADskin1 on Instagram.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/transform-your-skin-health-diet-and-lifestyle-take-center-stage-at-2025-aad-annual-meeting-302379381.html

SOURCE American Academy of Dermatology