Hilary Baldwin, MD: Present and Future Rosacea Treatment Options

During this HCPLive interview, Hilary Baldwin, MD, spoke on recent treatment advances made for rosacea as well as the potential application of her team’s ‘Personalized Acne Treatment Tool’ for other conditions such as rosacea.

Baldwin is known for her work as the medical director of the Acne Treatment & Research Center in New York.

She first was asked about the distinctions between rosacea treatment in the present day compared to a decade prior, giving her views made on the recent advancements.

“It has changed it completely,” Baldwin said. “I’ve forgotten what the year was, but I want to say it was at least 15 or 16 years ago that we started the American Acne and Rosacea Society, and I remember very clearly at that first meeting, that I was about to go and give a talk, entitled ‘What's new with rosacea?’ And I asked the group sitting in front of me of all these acne and rosacea experts, what the heck is new and everybody said nothing.”

Baldwin then noted that after that meeting, the world of treatment advances leapt forward with the creation of modified release doxycycline.

“It was the first oral FDA-approved treatment for rosacea,” she said. “And then in the last couple of years, as you mentioned, the introduction of 3 brand new topicals, which are absolute game changers, compared to our older topical medications that we had. Highly more effective, very well tolerated. And very fast acting with the newest medication, the microencapsulated benzoyl peroxide, reducing 40% of lesions in the first 2 weeks.”

Later, Baldwin was asked about the possibility of applying her team’s recently-developed ‘Personalized Acne Treatment Tool’ for rosacea and other dermatologic conditions.

“I think it could be used, since the whole idea is personalized care, individual care for the patient sitting in front of you,” she explained. “It's not 1 size fits all for any dermatologic disorder. And we have to take the patient through skin care, how to cleanse, how to moisturize, what kind of sunscreens to use, when to use their medications, how to use their medications, and be very specific.”

She added that dermatologists must make sure to deal with the psychological aspects of the disease.

“Many dermatologic diseases have a great deal of psychological overlay,” Baldwin said. “So we have to think of the disease, the severity, but also the issues and the concerns of the patients from start to finish, and make sure that we're following them at an adequate rate, so that we're encouraging them to continue to be adherent with their therapy. So yeah, I think what applies to acne in that regard or certainly applies to rosacea, and applies as well probably to atopic dermatitis and psoriasis as we move forward with the treatment.”

To find out more about Baldwin’s views on this topic, view the interview segment above.

The quotes contained in this description were edited for clarity.