Innovative Article About a Neglected Disease Offers Glimmer of Hope for Patients
The skin is crucial for our well-being. It reflects our age and health. It also helps us feel things and interact with others. Even minor skin issues can affect our self-confidence.
Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a long-term inflammatory disease. It typically starts in young adulthood and causes painful nodules, festering abscesses, and leaking tunnels in intimate body areas. It affects about 1 in 100 people and causes a lot of personal suffering and lost work productivity. Unfortunately, HS is not well recognized in the medical and public sectors.
An international team of authors from Berlin, New York, Wrocław, Rochester, Santiago de Chile, and Ireland, led by Prof. Dr. Robert Sabat from the Charité University Medicine (Berlin), has compiled and evaluated the current scientific knowledge on HS and has designed a pioneering framework for treatment. This work has been published in the world-renowned medical journal, The Lancet, and is available, free to read, here.

The authors stress that the inflammation associated with HS affects many other organ systems. Indeed, patients with HS frequently develop joint, intestinal, mood, and metabolic disorders (such as diabetes) that have cardiovascular implications. “Concomitant diseases are currently not considered in treatment concepts, although they result in a significantly shorter life expectancy of those affected. We need to view the patients with HS holistically and develop a practicable screening concept for their concomitant diseases”, emphasize Prof. Robert Sabat and Prof. Amit Garg. Now for the first time, the authors distinguish between different disease phases. The proposed treatment concept considers these disease phases and comorbidities and is to be implemented in a personalized and interdisciplinary manner.
The first modern therapies based on the neutralization of individual inflammatory mediators are already available for the medical treatment of HS. “In recent months, remarkable insights have been gained into the mechanisms of the disease, which have expanded the potential for disease control through immunomodulatory therapies”, explains Dr. Kerstin Wolk. Early diagnosis and treatment with the most effective therapies with the goal of symptom control, halting the progressive destruction of the skin, and minimizing the consequences of concomitant diseases are central concepts in HS management.
This article is an important step towards holistic care for patients suffering from this neglected disease. “We hope this publication will help to reduce diagnostic delays, raise awareness of the systemic nature and serious consequences of this disease, and provide the necessary resources for translational research and timely, interdisciplinary care”, emphasizes Prof. Jacek Szepietowski.
Reference:
Sabat R, Alavi A, Wolk K, Wortsman X, McGrath B, Garg A, Szepietowski JC. Hidradenitis suppurativa. Lancet. 2025 Jan 22:S0140-6736(24)02475-9. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)02475-9. PMID: 39862870.