April W. Armstrong, MD, MPH, continued our last morning of the conference with a review of important articles published in JAMA Dermatology throughout the past year. Beginning with central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA), Dr Armstrong discussed a review article supporting the use of low dose oral extended-release metformin 500 mg daily as an adjunct treatment for CCCA. In 12 patients who underwent standard treatments for 6 months without clinical improvement, the addition of low dose metformin led to hair regrowth in 6 out of 12 patients and symptom improvement in 8 out of 12 patients.

Next, Dr Armstrong reviewed the results of a 7-year follow up study of rituximab for pemphigus vulgaris or pemphigus foliaceus. Compared to patients who received high-dose prednisone alone, those who received rituximab plus prednisone had longer disease-free survival and a 2-fold lower relapse rate. Oral acitretin plus topical triamcinolone was found to be superior to topical triamcinolone alone for the treatment of oral lichen planus in a single-center placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial. To conclude, Dr Armstrong presented data from two small case series published in 2024. Bimekizumab was highly effective for both palmoplantar pustulosis and palmoplantar plaque psoriasis with pustules, while upadacitinib 30 mg daily was found to be effective for recalcitrant granulomatous cheilitis in patients with concomitant Crohn disease.