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Presentation

Climate Change and Dermatologic Impacts of Extreme Heat, Wildfires, and Flooding

Description

The talk reviewed how climate change is driving more frequent and severe weather-related disasters and emphasized the role dermatologists can play in disaster response. It highlighted evidence that global temperatures are rising due to human activity and that extreme heat, wildfires, and flooding are all becoming more common and costly. For extreme heat, the speaker explained skin’s role in thermoregulation, how heat can worsen inflammatory and infectious skin diseases, and why patients with impaired sweating or certain medications are at greater risk. For wildfires, the focus was on smoke and air pollution, which can trigger inflammation, oxidative stress, barrier dysfunction, and worsening of atopic dermatitis and possibly psoriasis. For flooding, the talk described infectious and noninfectious skin complications from contaminated water, wounds, stagnant water, crowding, and displaced animals and insects, including bacterial, fungal, parasitic, and vector-borne threats, plus trauma, dermatitis, and stress-related flares. Overall, the speaker concluded that extreme weather has major dermatologic consequences and that dermatologists are well positioned to help during relief efforts.

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Conclusions

Climate change is driving more frequent, severe, and costly extreme weather events, especially heat waves, wildfires, and flooding.
Extreme heat can overwhelm skin thermoregulation and worsen inflammatory, infectious, and heat-sensitive dermatologic diseases.
Rising temperatures may also increase skin cancer risk through both behavioral changes and heat-related biologic effects.
Wildfires are becoming more common and expansive, exposing people to smoke and air pollution that can aggravate atopic dermatitis, itch, and possibly psoriasis.
Wildfire smoke appears to cause measurable increases in dermatology clinic visits and greater need for systemic treatment in patients with atopic dermatitis.
Flooding is among the most frequent and deadly disasters and creates diverse dermatologic risks through trauma, infection, infestation, and environmental exposure.
Flood-related skin infections are often polymicrobial and can include unusual bacterial, fungal, parasitic, and vector-borne pathogens that may be resistant or severe.
Noninfectious flood sequelae such as immersion foot, miliaria, contact dermatitis, bites, stings, and psychodermatologic problems are also common.
Dermatologists have a meaningful role in disaster response because many climate-related harms present with cutaneous manifestations and require specialty recognition and care.

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