Robert Kirsner MD, PhD: Gaps in Knowledge on Wound Care in Dermatology Field

For his interview with HCPLive, Robert Kirsner, MD, PhD, discussed his presentation at the SDPA 20th Annual Fall Dermatology Conference, in which he covered the topic of wound healing.

Kirsner works as the Chairman and Harvey Blank Professor of the Dr. Phillip Frost Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Kirsner also works as the director of the University of Miami Hospital Wound Center and Chief of Dermatology at the University of Miami Hospital.

“Yeah, so there's always new research coming along,” he said. “And what happens is, it's like a locomotive train where the basic science research that occurs, pulls that train along. And eventually, towards the middle or the end, we have the clinical results from that basic science research.”

Kirsner went on to describe the kinds of advances that he has observed in the field and their significance to his presentation.

“We all heal with scars,” he explained. “The reason for that, it turns out, is not entirely clear. It was initially thought that it was because it would be faster to heal with scars. But that may not be true, but we heal with scars. But the consequences of scars are not necessarily very good. The scars are not as strong as normal skin. We call healing with scars repair. And we taught healing without scars, regeneration.”

Kirsner went into a specific example of research with regard to scars.

“And there are a number of groups that have been working on trying to learn why, for example, fetuses in-utero heal by regeneration, while adults heal with scarring and, and some very interesting observations have emerged primarily is that the fibroblasts which drive the scarring change, based on some signaling some of its mechanical signal and some of its chemical signaling,” he said.

To watch his interview segment and learn more about his SDPA 2022 presentation, view above.