Rachel Parks

Five months after being struck by lightning, a 55-year-old male presented with a 2-day history of an erythematous rash. The patient noted his skin had been excessively dry since the lightning strike, and he recently added a new essential oil to his bath. His medical history includes liver failure, asthma, environmental allergies, and the lightning strike about five months ago.

Therapeutic advancements have brought increased attention to hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), but the inflammatory condition remains under-recognized and under-treated. At the annual meeting of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology last month, Joslyn Kirby, MD, MS, MEd spoke about the disease and its treatment. Dr. Kirby is president of the HS Foundation (hs-foundation.org), and Associate Professor of dermatology at Penn State Health in Hershey, PA.

Todd Schlesinger, MD is a clinical, research, and cosmetic dermatologist. He is the founder and medical director of the Dermatology & Laser Center of Charleston as well as the Clinical Research Center of the Carolinas.