The Role of Specialty Pharmacy in Hidradenitis Suppurativa Care at University of Vermont (UVM) Health| NASP Specialty Pharmacy Podcast

So can you please give us a brief overview of hydrogenitis supertiva, the presentation, the staging, and common treatments?

Absolutely.

So HS or hydrodinitis suppurativa is a very complex condition that we treat primarily in dermatology, but we certainly work with other specialists as well to provide comprehensive care, but it's essentially an auto-inflammatory condition.

So, um, What that means is the system just has a lot of inflammation.

And in HS, it's actually primarily affecting the hair follicles.

And this can lead to painful cysts and abscesses, mostly in the armpits, groin, and under the breasts for some people.

And it can lead to inflammation that actually tunnels under the skin and forms what we call skin tunnels, as well as significant scarring.

And it can be really, really debilitating for patients because it can be quite painful.

They can have a lot of drainage, which can affect social life, work, and mental health, definitely.

And then in terms of Age, really anyone can get HS.

We most commonly see it present in women in their 20s and 30s as well as teenagers, but people can also get it later in life and it affects both men and women.

And then in terms of staging, there are a variety of staging methods, but we primarily use the Hurley staging system, which is based on the amount of scarring and skin tunneling that patients have.

And there are a variety of treatments.

We wish there were more treatments available, but we finally do have some.

It's a condition that really wasn't studied for a very long time.

So really in the last 10, 15 years, they've been doing a lot of research on medication.

So we have some topicals that we use like chlorhexidine, which is an antiseptic solution, as well as clindamycin lotion.

We do some oral medications such as doxycycline, which helps with inflammation.

Spironolactone can help if there's a possible hormonal component, which I'm sure we'll chat a little bit about later.

And then the FDA-approved medications are adalimumab, cecukinumab, and bimacizumab, which are all biologic medications that help with it.

inflammation.

I

have a quick question.

Is that skin tunneling? Is it visible to like the naked eye? Can you see that on a patient?

Yes, you can actually see it.