Business Insight Presented by Arlington Dermatology Pediatric Dermatology and Research Recently, pediatric dermatology became almost a separate specialty, with not too many doctors really wishing to see young children with skin problems. Skin problems in children are no different than in adults but the treatment might be limited due to lack of approval of medications allowed for grown up population. The progress in developing new drugs for dermatology has been extremely active in the last decade but most of the studies leading to approvals of these drugs are conducted on adults and thus, medications get approved for patients 18+ while they are not available for massive pediatric use. This is putting very young patients in a very ambivalent spot: first, yes, young patients are protected from any possible side affects not yet known and discovered in new drugs, and second, doctors have a very limited list of dermatologic drugs that can be used for children. The trends in developing new dermatologic/ skin issues by children is no different than in grown up population. Various types of dermatitis, both contact and atopic, psoriasis, acne, and fungal infections are quite common and the successful treatment often means drugs for children should be accessible to more communities. Currently, most of those using medication off label. There are multiple studies are done in pediatric hospitals and medical agents that have proven to be safe for use based on years of long-term studies but, due to lack of pediatric studies, the drugs cannot be approved for children. What can we do about it as a medical field in general and as a society? The only answer that seems to be obvious is to begin conducting studies on children and population, after adult studies have already that is much easier said than done. Studies on children are very complex due to the preventive actions allowing the research knowledge of the approved drugs that have a field to minimize the amount of procedures, good outcome in treatment and are eventually providing a very extensive overview of the protocol to parents, and having one of the parents always assisting a child in research visits. Doctors conducting pediatric research challenging issue. There are some upcoming must follow many more rules and regulations, projects in psoriasis and acne that may benefit specifically protecting young children who are a vulnerable population. It is critical for parents to be a part of the project, learning the protocols, study flows, and details of safety of the studied medication in order to build more confidence in children they do not result in participation, are free of whose age simply docs not guarantee their full understanding of the consenting process, effects of placebo, and similar terms. Pediatric rescarch and development of new accessing them might be challenging due to transportation, frequent longer visits and trips at hours not convenient to school children. Arlington Dermatology has been actively secking research studies with the history of low risk and high safety records that can be extended to children as a secondary been successfully completed. This approach allows us to share our extended to treat younger patients. We would like to invite parents and children to contact us to discuss this very important but our younger patients and we would love to network with the community members about the options for the future treatments. Please, note that any consultations and medical visits associated with research, even if charge. We want this opportunity to be both, medical and educational and hope to hear from many families. Michael Bukhalo, MD Arlington Dermatology 5301 Keystone Court Rolling Meadows, IL 60008 Tel. 847 392 5440 | www.arlingtondermatology.net Business Insight Presented by Arlington Dermatology Pediatric Dermatology and Research Recently, pediatric dermatology became almost a separate specialty, with not too many doctors really wishing to see young children with skin problems. Skin problems in children are no different than in adults but the treatment might be limited due to lack of approval of medications allowed for grown up population. The progress in developing new drugs for dermatology has been extremely active in the last decade but most of the studies leading to approvals of these drugs are conducted on adults and thus, medications get approved for patients 18+ while they are not available for massive pediatric use. This is putting very young patients in a very ambivalent spot: first, yes, young patients are protected from any possible side affects not yet known and discovered in new drugs, and second, doctors have a very limited list of dermatologic drugs that can be used for children. The trends in developing new dermatologic/ skin issues by children is no different than in grown up population. Various types of dermatitis, both contact and atopic, psoriasis, acne, and fungal infections are quite common and the successful treatment often means drugs for children should be accessible to more communities. Currently, most of those using medication off label. There are multiple studies are done in pediatric hospitals and medical agents that have proven to be safe for use based on years of long-term studies but, due to lack of pediatric studies, the drugs cannot be approved for children. What can we do about it as a medical field in general and as a society? The only answer that seems to be obvious is to begin conducting studies on children and population, after adult studies have already that is much easier said than done. Studies on children are very complex due to the preventive actions allowing the research knowledge of the approved drugs that have a field to minimize the amount of procedures, good outcome in treatment and are eventually providing a very extensive overview of the protocol to parents, and having one of the parents always assisting a child in research visits. Doctors conducting pediatric research challenging issue. There are some upcoming must follow many more rules and regulations, projects in psoriasis and acne that may benefit specifically protecting young children who are a vulnerable population. It is critical for parents to be a part of the project, learning the protocols, study flows, and details of safety of the studied medication in order to build more confidence in children they do not result in participation, are free of whose age simply docs not guarantee their full understanding of the consenting process, effects of placebo, and similar terms. Pediatric rescarch and development of new accessing them might be challenging due to transportation, frequent longer visits and trips at hours not convenient to school children. Arlington Dermatology has been actively secking research studies with the history of low risk and high safety records that can be extended to children as a secondary been successfully completed. This approach allows us to share our extended to treat younger patients. We would like to invite parents and children to contact us to discuss this very important but our younger patients and we would love to network with the community members about the options for the future treatments. Please, note that any consultations and medical visits associated with research, even if charge. We want this opportunity to be both, medical and educational and hope to hear from many families. Michael Bukhalo, MD Arlington Dermatology 5301 Keystone Court Rolling Meadows, IL 60008 Tel. 847 392 5440 | www.arlingtondermatology.net