Glynis Ablon, MD, FAAD, Previews Winter Clinical Miami Aesthetics and Dermatology Session

The inaugural Winter Clinical Miami meeting kicks off in Miami, Florida, on February 17, 2023, and promises to deliver 4 jam-packed days of programming focusing on everything from new developments in the therapeutic landscape, to live patient workshops, to best practices for treating the aesthetic patient.

Glynis Ablon, MD, FAAD

In an exclusive interview with Dermatology Times®, Glynis Ablon, MD, FAAD, associate clinical professor of dermatology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and owner of the Ablon Skin Institute and Research Center in Manhattan Beach, California, previews the conference and her sessions.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

Dermatology Times: What are you most looking forward to at the inaugural Winter Clinical Miami meeting?

Ablon: Miami is one of my favorite locations and, you know, [it’s] Winter Clinical’s 20th anniversary, so it's only fitting it finally takes over Miami at some time, and I am thrilled to be at that inaugural meeting. It'll be very exciting to see how it plays out.

Dermatology Times: You will be participating in a live patient workshop on fillers and toxins. Why should your colleagues attend this session?

Ablon: It's always a fun, vibrant educational session. We learn tips and advice, and it really is for any injector, both novice [and] advanced. You learn a lot of information. Even myself, I learn new things every time.

Dermatology Times: Can you give us a preview of your talk on Evaluating the Aesthetic Patient? What are the most important items to consider in this evaluation?

Ablon: Our knowledge of the pathophysiology of aging really does allow us to develop site-specific augmentations based on these unique losses of an individual face. I say one should start by evaluating first the structural changes, which includes the skin, fat, muscle, and bone. And then follow that by the morphological changes, which include the topography, the shape, the balance, and the proportions of the face. And finally, the symmetry, which, most of us are asymmetrical, and it does worsen with age and we really have to recognize this. This affects the time, the amount, the effort needed to successfully treat the aesthetic patient. This is contingent upon, of course, the quality of the tissue, the bony structure, the fullness, and the symmetry that a patient has to start with and then we can choose our plan with our patient on how we want to proceed.

Dermatology Times: What are some of the innovations in the works this year in the field of aesthetics and dermatology that most excite you?

Ablon: I'm a big fan of regenerative medicine and regenerative dermatology so the advances in exosome technology are fantastic. That includes topicals like Rion, which is the exact spelling of my past mother's life; that was who she was, she was Rion, R-I-O-N, so I was very excited about that technology. And then frozen prepared ones like Exocel Bio or Kimera. You really want to follow closely on how these things are playing out as far as research goes and [US Food and Drug Administration] approval.

I also love new devices like UltraClear (Acclaro) and Tixel (Novoxel) that can be used on all skin types for faster treatments, less pain, faster healing, and faster results. I also love low-level light lasers. I think they are exceptionally successful from the office devices and home units. I love Omnilux. I like in-office devices also like Emerald and Zerona. These low-level lasers are actually FDA-approved and they clinically demonstrate their efficacy. They reduce inflammation, erythema, fat cell size, and so they can help obesity and many more conditions. Of course, there are new neuromodulators and fillers that are always on the horizon.

Dermatology Times: Are there any upcoming dermatologic FDA approvals that you are closely tracking or anticipating?

Ablon: It’s great, we finally have Daxxify [daxibotulinumtoxinA-lanm]. We actually did the studies with the company and so we did see in the clinical trials that patients had results lasting over 6 to 9 months and many up to 12 in our practice, so we're excited about having that and we've already started using it. I'm so excited that Opzelura [ruxolitinib] finally came out. I was so excited for vitiligo and eczema; I wanted to have something and now I do. We're currently performing 15 clinical trials so there's a lot on the horizon that I'm not actually allowed to talk about in the field of hair loss and hopefully everyone can join us in Miami.

Follow along with all of Dermatology Times’ Winter Clinical Miami coverage here.