It has been a very busy fall season for me as I have been running several meetings around the world where incredible clinicians have taught dermatologists and others on the art of skin care — from lasers and light sources to the proper use of injectable medicines like botulinum toxins and fillers for lines, wrinkles, and now volume correction. I am going to share some of the information from these meetings to you in this column.
First, let me explain one of the meetings and why this particular group is even in the meeting business. One of the true joys of being a physician is to watch as younger physicians learn about what one does every day and then shares that passion with others. I have been actively involved in teaching dermatologists from around the world for many years — which, if you know me, is the greatest thing I can do for my colleagues and gives me more energy to continue doing what I love every day of the year. As part of this teaching, we “join” various societies where we can foster the education process in various forums with other colleagues. One international dermatology group in particular intrigued me many years ago and so I became a member — and part of my international teaching life began. I steadily moved up the “ranks” of this society and was poised to take over when one day out of the blue the “founders” decided that I might find out exactly what they were doing to deepen their pockets with the proceeds from our meetings, even while announcing to the world that they were giving back to dermatologists. Several of my colleagues and I exposed them and decided it was best if we embarked on having a truly open and transparent international dermatologic surgery society. So, DASIL was formed — The Dermatologic & Aesthetic Surgery International League. To show how serious we were in making sure that none of us “profited” from the society, we became a 501 C3 — a total non-profit society in the US and now around the world. Over the past two and one half years, we have seen this society grow and flourish, and we are definitely the give-back dermatologic surgery society.
We recently had our 2nd DASIL meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. Over 550 physicians from 43 countries attended this event and we had one of the best meetings I have ever been associated with. Techniques for injecting botulinum toxin were taught by the brightest minds in the business, as were where to “put” each one of the fillers commonly used and which one to use where. And we taught lasers — every imaginable type of laser in the world. One of the nicest parts of these kinds of events is that many of these techniques and many of these products end up at The Tennessee Clinical Research Center where we work with all of these companies performing clinical research on these new technologies.
I am fortunate to do what I do. I have been serving the Nashville for community for over 25 years now and I thank all of you, my patients, for your continued loyalty to what we try to do every day — give the best dermatologic care anywhere right here in Music City. And with the blessings that I have to travel and teach and give back, I am truly thankful for each and every one of you and we promise to always have the best techniques, the best products, and the best care anywhere!!
– Dr. Michael H. Gold, M.D.
