Reproductive Health, Biosimilars & More in Focus at SOTA 2025

Lupus Across Skin Tones

Dr. Khattri

SOTA attendees will also view clinical images and learn about the varying dermatologic presentations of lupus across patients with different skin colors from from Saakshi Khattri, MD, MBBS, FAAD, FACR. Dr. Khattri is a practicing rheumatologist and dermatologist and an associate professor in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.

Skin manifestations in rheumatology present differently in people of color compared with those of lighter skin. “Our textbooks predominantly have images that disproportionately show skin pathology in white skin,” Dr. Khattri says. “As a result, residents and fellows do not learn skin manifestations across the spectrum of skin tones, which does a disservice to our community at large.”

Partly because of this approach in education, Dr. Khattri points out that the diagnosis of skin changes in connective tissue diseases in people with darker skin tones can be more challenging than in those of lighter coloring (e.g., Fitzpatrick skin types 1, 2 or 3). Moreover, combined rheumatology and dermatology clinics are rare, so rheumatologists don’t typically have quick access to dermatologic expertise.

Thus, these patients are at increased risk of delayed diagnoses and greater scarring and permanent skin changes. This experience is especially the case for discoid lupus erythematosus, notes Dr. Khattri, which has a higher incidence in people who are Black.

“I’m hoping the audience will be able to use the tips from the lecture in their own practice for earlier diagnosis and, thereby, management,” Dr. Khattri says.

How to Sign Up

Registration for SOTA 2025 is now open.

The programming on April 4 is designed for rheumatology fellows in training, with more general programming on April 5 and 6 appropriate for trainees, rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals. Additional presentations will provide education on such topics as large vessel vasculitis imaging, spondyloarthritis treatment, polychondritis, pain and fatigue in lupus, hypermobility spectrum disorder, cancer screening in myositis, non-inflammatory back pain, rotator cuff disease and liver disease in rheumatology.

Ruth Jessen Hickman, MD, a graduate of the Indiana University School of Medicine, is a medical and science writer in Bloomington, Ind.

References

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