Matthew Zirwas, MD
One of the most important moments of Dr. Zirwas’ life happened while he was a young dermatologist and realized that so much of what he was being taught to tell patients about Atopic Dermatitis didn’t have any proof to back it up. Even worse was that much of what he was supposed to tell them either didn’t work or was making their problems worse. At that moment he started looking for the actual causes for what he was seeing in his patients and for explanations that made sense. 

He has published over 160 peer reviewed articles and is one of the authors of the 7th Edition of Fisher’s Contact Dermatitis.

His interests, in particular, focus on clinical trials, adult atopic dermatitis, pruritus and urticaria, hair loss and psoriasis.

Dr. Zirwas received his undergraduate and medical school degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. He completed his dermatology residency at the University of Pittsburgh as well, developing an interest in contact dermatitis during his residency which led to additional training at Penn State University and the Cleveland Clinic. 

He is married to a fellow dermatologist, Dr. Jill Fichtel, has four kids between 11 and 15 (Margaret, Thomas, Audrey and Susannah), a 3 pound tea-cup poodle named Spice whose best friends are two cats – a brother and sister named Cinnamon and Sugar.

What to expect:

• Identify likely contact allergen sources based on the distribution dermatitis.
• Recognize which patients are most likely to benefit from patch testing.
• Define a treatment plan for patients presenting with widespread, non-specific, highly pruritic dermatitis.
• Recognize common mimics of dermatitis that are unlikely to respond to topicals.