In this episode of Under Your Skin, host Nicholas Brownstone, MD, gets to know Alexandra Golant, MD, as they discuss her favorite thing about being a dermatologist, her favorite disease to treat, and her best tip for treating patients with inflammatory skin disease. 

What’s your favorite thing about being a dermatologist? 

Dr Golant encourages residents who come through her program to remember how lucky they are and to take the drive they have when applying to the program and carry it with them throughout their careers. 

She feels that dermatology is a very special, relationships-based specialty; she values the ability to take care of so many patients throughout the day and that each of her colleagues can curate their own mixture of patient care, research, and resident education. She also appreciates being able to speak and meet colleagues nationally and internationally and finds that the opportunity to do so makes dermatology particularly meaningful. 

What’s your favorite disease to treat and why? 

Dr Golant loves treating inflammatory skin disease, especially atopic dermatitis. She reflects that dermatologists may now take for granted the availability of advanced systemic therapeutics, but that until very recently, patients with atopic dermatitis were ignored from a therapeutic standpoint and had very limited treatment options. 

She appreciates the ability to positively impact a patient by helping to restore their quality of life; in some cases, patients are enabled to experience life as if they don’t have atopic dermatitis, which for some patients, has been affecting them since childhood. 

As atopic dermatitis treatments have emerged for younger and younger patients, Dr Golant remarks that the ability to intervene earlier during the stage when children are developing self-esteem and managing school performance makes for a powerful doctor-patient relationship that she greatly values. 

What is your best tip for treating a patient with inflammatory skin disease? 

Dr Golant’s best tip for treating patients with these conditions is to actively listen and take time to ask patients what is driving their suffering. By learning each patient’s unique priorities, you can tailor your treatment to suit them and get the best result possible.