Professor Patrick Treacy shortlisted for 2022 Irish Healthcare Award
Treacy, who is a past chairman of the Royal Society of Medicine (London)'s aesthetic medicine congress and founded Dublin’s Ailesbury Clinic, was shortlisted for the award for his work on a new treatment for Covid-19 vaccine-related complications.
“They say necessity is the mother of invention, and as countries around the world addressed societal challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, the aesthetics industry faced another growing problem- nodules occurring after vaccination that couldn't be treated by normal therapeutic regimens,” he said.
The problem started with a few cases, but eventually, 23 international patients were unresponsive, even to intralesional steroids: "These patients were very distressed and created new problems for the sector."
In late 2021, a three-month course of methotrexate was successfully trialled on a small group of patients and then expanded: “Technically, we were adapting treatment to match a new problem.”
Treacy added that, from a historical viewpoint, many innovations were developed following previous pandemics, such as the introduction of public hospitals after the Spanish Flu.
“The Covid-19 pandemic brought us mRNA technology, which allowed pharmaceutical companies to move very fast to develop new vaccines. That speed allowed the manufacturers to adapt the vaccines more quickly as the virus mutated. The later booster vaccines seem to have created a new problem- nodules unresponsive to previously established treatments. It is wonderful to be in a situation to create another world first - the use of methotrexate to treat them."
Treacy, who recently appeared on Virgin Media TV's Lucy Investigates, received the AIDA Award in Abu Dhabi for being the first doctor to use hyaluronidase to treat hyaluronic acid-related dermal filler vascular occlusion. For more information on his nodule treatment method, see the November issue of Aesthetic Medicine.
The Innovation in Healthcare and Medicine Awards is taking place on Thursday 1 December at the new Dublin Royal Convention Centre, Dublin 8,