Physician Spotlight: Mathew Avram, MD, JD

Mathew M. Avram, MD, JD wears many hats. He is director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Dermatology Laser & Cosmetic Center, faculty director for Laser and Cosmetic Training in the department of dermatology at Harvard Medical School, and current president of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS). As such, he is uniquely positioned to look back at the year in dermatology. He sat down with Practical Dermatology® magazine to reflect. Here’s what he had to say.

In dermatology, 2021 was the year of...

Mathew M. Avram, MD, JD: Virtual dermatology. Every aspect of care has changed as a result of our ability to do things remotely. We do teledermatology now, and we can communicate with a patient for a consultation or before or after a procedure. Our learning takes place virtually, and our patients come to us with concerns that they noticed because they see themselves on Zoom. Patients look to online resources for education about medical or surgical dermatology, too.

The biggest dermatology breakthrough of 2021 was...

Dr. Avram: The growth of cosmetic dermatology. During the pandemic, people saw themselves on Zoom and FaceTime and noticed things that bothered them that they never saw before. They started getting neurotoxins, filler, and laser procedures, and will continue to do so into the future. Today’s patients are younger. In the past, our cosmetic patients were predominantly females over 50 who were embarrassed to be there and didn’t like wrinkles.

Now, most of my patients are under 40, and they don’t only want to change things they don’t like, they want to prevent things from happening.

The ASDS/ American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Association’s (ASDSA) biggest wins in 2021 were…

Dr. Avram: We had a fantastic year. We set the record straight about COVID-19 vaccines and filler complications. Our white paper offered further support for the safety of the vaccines and clarified any confusion by showing that these treatments can be done safely. We successfully mounted a patient safety campaign on the risks of self-injecting hyaluronic acid using hyaluron pens.

The ASDS/ASDSA used this year to get the voice of dermatology into social media. For too long, social media was dominated by non-experts and non-physicians who have large groups of followers but don’t provide the best information to consumers. Dermatologists started to take their rightful place in the public eye. We are the experts in the health and beauty of skin. We faced a very adverse climate with COVID-19 and the Delta variant but continued strongly through the year and provided resources to members, patients, and the public by leveraging social media.