Heather Gates, PA-C, Leads Inaugural Aesthetics Workshop at Fall Clinical PA/NP

“Lots of fascinating things going on,” Heather Gates, PA-C, told Dermatology Times. “We're trying to stay on the cusp of aesthetics because it is a field that's in its infancy and is ever changing.”

At the 10th Annual Fall Clinical PA/NP Conference in Orlando, Florida, Gates, a physician’s assistant practicing at the Dermatology Institute and Skin Cancer Center in The Villages, Florida, led a groundbreaking Aesthetics Workshop. This is the first time a hands-on workshop of this kind has been given at a Fall Clinical PA/NP meeting.

To shape the workshop, Gates invited two standout physician assistants in the aesthetic space, Gary Rubin, PA-C, and Tanya Patron, PA-C. Rubin, known for his precise understanding of facial anatomy, demonstrated facial balancing techniques and live injectable procedures on Gates. Patron, a specialist in non-surgical rhinoplasty using dermal fillers, shared insights into this cutting-edge technique.

Gates also presented a lecture titled “What’s Up and Coming in Aesthetics,” where she explored the evolving landscape of aesthetic dermatology, focusing on new medications and technologies poised to reshape the field over the next 2 to 5 years. Among the highlights was a botulinum toxin type E with a rapid onset time of 8 to 24 hours, a potential game-changer for patients seeking immediate results.

“[This] is amazing for all those procrastinators out there who forget to schedule their Botox ahead of time,” Gates noted.

The session also examined the latest neuromodulators and findings from European consensus reports relevant to US practitioners. Gates also discussed recent studies comparing biostimulatory products, highlighting those that demonstrate superior results and affect gene expression in the skin.

Overall, the inaugural workshop underscored how aesthetics remains a rapidly evolving discipline full of transformative potential. Gates and her colleagues emphasized the importance of staying informed and adaptable to new research and technologies in this specialization.

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