Trends and Differences in Aesthetic Device Industry Interaction Among Dermatologists at the American Society for...

Laser and energy-based cosmetic medical device companies are not required to publicly report their interactions with physicians, resulting in limited data on physician-industry relationships in this domain. To gain a better understanding of these relationships, we characterized dermatology-industry interactions at the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS) conference, the largest meeting in the field of medical lasers and energy-based devices.

Disclosures of all presenters and co-authors were collected for the 2014 and 2018 ASLMS conference programs. Demographic information including gender, fellowship training, and practice setting were obtained and quantified.

There was an increase in disclosures for both male and female dermatologists, 22 percent and 27 percent respectively, between 2014 and 2018, but males still had the greatest overall number of disclosures. The type of interaction varied based on gender with females highest reporting in 2018 being advisory board membership (19%) and males being honoraria (21%).

This study was limited by the inability to assess the monetary value of these interactions and assessment of only ASLMS.

There is an increased but differential level of industry interaction among dermatologists between 2014 and 2018, with female dermatologists experiencing the greatest proportional increase.