Key Facts About Dermatology Trials & Why They Are a Valued Exercise

Dermatology trials offer communities a chance to address their medical concerns directly, venturing beyond cosmetic solutions to find substantive treatments that changes lives.

Before rushing to judgment about this endeavour or making assumptions about how the industry works, it is important to outline some key facts about why they exist and why they are so valuable.

Addressing Key Dermatology Ailments

The reason why dermatology trials are instituted by medical institutions is very simple – to address key dermatology ailments that impact the skin. These conditions can be incredibly corrosive and damage the quality of life of community members who are desperate for some form of effective treatment. It is such a wide field where men and women can be diagnosed, ranging from eczema to acne, hives to psoriasis, ichthyosis to seborrheic dermatitis and beyond. From the very rare ailments to the more common issues that are diagnosed, the use of clinical trials in this circumstance allows operators to engage in trial and error processes that lead to better outcomes.

Select Phase Rollout

There can be some misconceptions about how dermatology trials are introduced with participants and how this is carefully calculated over time. It is not run in an Adhoc fashion where individuals are selected at random for varying doses. This is a process that runs through the preclinical test before progressing to phase one, phase two, phase three and then phase four where the product is actually approved by the government and available for the market. Unless the treatment can pass each stage, it will be halted.

Venturing Beyond Computer & Animal Testing

Although there are roles to be played with computer programming and animal testing with certain components of dermatology trials, it is the introduction of human trialists that allows medical practitioners to test solutions with the most important subjects available. The computer and animal testing stages have their value but obvious limitations, whether that is due to their operational capacity, concerns for animal welfare and the need to adapt these medical solutions to the community they will ultimately be used for.

Public & Private Sector Intervention

One of the great features of dermatology trials is that they are not confined to government departments or private enterprise. This is an open field where both ends of the spectrum can experiment, innovate, and find key breakthroughs that make a difference to people’s lives. That mixture of investigator-led trials and sponsor-led trials improves opportunities for clinical breakthroughs in skin treatments for the community.

Sourcing Free or Low-Cost Treatments

Woman undertaking dermatology trials

Depending on the cost of production and what is discovered during the process of dermatology trials, community members stand a better chance of receiving medicine that is either low cost or free of charge. It is an often-overlooked benefit for institutions to run dermatology trials because the investment in public health and the accessibility can expand to more participants.

Reducing Side Effects & Making Medical Improvements

Even for those participants who are currently receiving medication and treatment for a dermatology condition, the use of clinical trials in this setting ensures that those provisions are tested against potential new solutions that are discovered. Why continue to live with a cream or a pill that only masks the cause of the condition when there could be a better option that is identified through these mechanisms?

Close Personal Medical Monitoring

Subjects who take part in these trials are not given a remedy and left to their own devices. This is an environment where specialists will closely monitor the condition of participants, seeing if there are indeed any side effects, document how they are feeling and whether or not any progress has been made. It is a system designed to look after the welfare of individuals who are putting themselves forward for medicines that are yet to rollout to the general public.