Ashley Crew, MD: Clinical Manifestations in Rheum Care Requiring Derm Consult

Clinical manifestations may lead to a rheumatology patient needing to seek additional care from a dermatologist.

Conditions like psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis are seen all the time by dermatologists, Ashley Crew, MD, from Keck Medicine of USC, said in a recent interview with HCPLive®. Crew, who is a dermatologist, said a lot of patients go to her with suspected inflammatory arthritis and there is a question about whether it is psoriatic arthritis.

“I think it comes as a surprise to a lot of dermatologists that psoriatic arthritis is not a slam dunk always diagnosis and that there can be some grey area,” Crew said.

When rheumatologists debate about whether a patient has psoriatic arthritis, dermatologists are often asked to assist with rashes and other possible manifestations.

There are also tons of overlap with lupus. Such patients might have systemic lupus who also have cutaneous manifestations of the condition that can be acute, chronic, or sub-acute. Further, there are manifestations of dermatomyositis that dermatology clinics see a lot of that are rheumatology patients who they help to assess, make a diagnosis, and help to fine-tune therapeutics.