Rajani Katta, MD: Psoriasis, Other Dermatologic Conditions Connected to Obesity

During a segment of her interview with HCPLive, Rajani Katta, MD, discussed her presentation featured at the SDPA 20th Annual Fall Dermatology Conference regarding obesity and dermatology.

Katta is a dermatologist who also serves as a volunteer clinical faculty member at both the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Houston and Baylor College of Medicine. Additionally, she holds certification in Culinary Medicine from Tulane University and has authored 9 books.

“So, as a specialist in allergic contact dermatitis, I fielded so many questions over the years for my patients.”

“Do you think this is a food allergy? Do you think I need to change my diet?” she explained. “And in the early years, I would often say well, you know, that's something you should speak to your primary care physician about or to your nutritionist. And then I realized that I really needed to become an expert because there weren't clear cut answers in the literature.”

Katta explained some of the various dermatologic conditions associated with poor dietary habits, as well as her rationale behind pursuing the path to better help her patients struggling with the cutaneous effects of obesity.

“Especially, I wanted to make it clear to my patients, where (previously) we didn't have an answer for them.”

“And so that really started me down this journey, where I started writing about the link between diet and different conditions in dermatology,” she explained. “And it's really interesting, because what I found was that even though I hadn't been aware of some of this literature, there actually has been some robust research being done over the last, I'd say 10 to 15 years in areas as diverse as acne, eczema, psoriasis, urticaria.”

Her presentation was entitled ‘Weight a Minute: Obesity in Dermatology,’ and covered such topics as the cutaneous effects of obesity, the relationship between chronic inflammatory skin diseases and systemic comorbidities, and the use of diabetes detection strategies being incorporated into clinic workflow.

To find out more from Katta’s interview, view more of HCPLive’s SDPA 2022 Conference coverage.