WCD - First Impressions…

Well – here we are at last. Buenos Aires is a LONG way to come – we Europeans don’t realise just how big the world is. Lovely spring weather and the hotel come up trumps with the transport. Clearly the driver was a descendant of Juan Fangio (old time Argentinian formula 1 world champion). Subsequent exposure confirms that they all must be.

Climatise the first day by eating huge amounts of meat and shopping at great exchange rates.
And so to bed…

Sunday 30th September

Wake to more glorious weather and a completely shut city – bit like Europe used to be. Leisurely breakfast , stroll to see the sites along deserted boulevards but find portneos are as mad on dogs as me and get to play with at least 10 labradors. More (much more) meat for lunch

And so to the business in hand – the 21st World Congress of Dermatology

Tip of the day

Too far to walk to convention – and taxis are so cheap. Bit of a culture shock for those of us in the Atlantic alliance who assume every taxi driver speaks English (apart from New York and Shanghai) – finally address written on bit of paper and pointing at map helps. Trick for those reading this- ordering “to and from” radio taxis via the hotel really works, particularly (see below) if you are stuck on the street – take the hotel number with you.

Fortunate to have pass to circumvent inevitable dragons at the door and spend the afternoon watching the Exhibitors putting the finishing touches to their stands and inducting the ubiquitous “hostesses.” Human nature being what it is, there is nothing like a pretty face to pull in jaded dermatologists – other, perhaps, than the promise of a freebie which costs nothing but promotes an evolutionary desire to queue!

Some of the stands are just mind blowing – the P&G Beauty exhibit stand is round and svelte with lots of toys to play with a theatre and afterwards the promise of goodies to take away (starts Monday 1st October). Others stands have hectares of space with nothing much on them other than what look like mars bars(?). An air of “approach if you dare” pervades on others. Find book I wrote on publishing stand (gratifying but no fortunes to be made there).

P&G Beauty personnel include real scientists as well as bevy of multi-lingual, affable and articulate hostesses (who number undergraduates and trainee doctors amongst them).

Quite the reverse from long experience, to those who view your approach as a personal intrusion and delight in making you queue.

Spent time having P&G Beauty scientists analyse my skin – the depths of my appalling lifetime sun habits emerge. Promise to faithfully use their skin care products which seem to have ingredients to counter all my sins and protect me in the future. Amazing, when I was a lad we gave our grandmother a bottle of the famous pink liquid. How far has cosmetic science come.

Fare better on the hair and scalp analysis – no dandruff and my luxuriant and only marginally greying hair is in pretty good shape. Apparently we now even know the gene sequence of the putative yeasts causing common scaling diseases occur. More to come during the week at the P&G Hair & Scalp Symposium.

Admire amazing packaging and just the sheer breadth of product range. Dermatology wasn’t like this when I was a lad.

Do a tour of the exhibition hall- cosmetic companies seem to dominate : further sign of the times.

Decide to brave the registration hall. Amazingly, magnificently efficient registration and bag swap with happy smiling young people – makes a pleasant change from the bad tempered maelstrom endured at previous similar events. Venture to the main hall for the… The Opening Ceremony.

Love them or loathe them – every major such event has to have an opening ceremony. Worst one ever consisted of 20 speeches by all the local dermato-politicians: meeting running 4 hours late before it got started, made worse by the first 92 short presentations elucidating archaic treatments for syphilis (honest).
Manage to employ usual tactic learned at dad’s knee of getting right up the front (thanks dad) and hear admirably short and concise welcome by Congress Secretary, Adrian Pierini, who has to be congratulated on level of organisation and technical delivery, so far.
Robin Marks,wielding designer silver gavel as President of the International League of Dermatological Societies gives an honest, impassioned but overly long review of world dermatology. Presents well deserved prizes to Professors Henning Grossmann and Terence Ryan for outstanding work in rural Africa. Makes you realise how much we (and how little they), have. Humbling!

Some lascivious tango by famous argentine troupe (who overmilk the applause) is followed by more very well deserved prizes to real unsung heroes – but sense audience starting to feel a bit disconnected at this point. Gentle and humorous address by Congress President Gallimberti on “global dermatology for a globalized world” is followed by prolonged diatribe for Spanish speakers only by Argentine Vice President and a further burst of ballet. Enough being enough - depart to discover the more experienced hands are already in the exhibition hall waiting for the free food and (more importantly) drink which is eventually and gratifyingly, in profusion.

Delegates and their retinues eat, drink and cruise the stands, sizing up where to go when the goodies come. A gentle evening, getting to meet old friends and make some new ones.

Usual scrum for taxis made worse by tyrannical dispatcher, but beat them all by dint of phoning hotel who sent taxi with name all over it - much to ire of above. Must write book on how to survive conferences!

Tomorrow it all starts in earnest: fall asleep reading incredibly comprehensive Final Program (more congratulations) and realise will have to be time and space traveller to get to cover it all. Look for best speakers as well as subject matter.

Ethnic hair & skin physiology and disease meets personal interests despite looking like a covert sponsored symposium. Planning the day essential and making sure the suit pressed for attendance at P&G’s distinguished dermatology dinner tonight.

Get up at 5a.m. to write blog.

Tomorrow will bring you as much of the highlights as possible with more pictures to come.

Best,

John Gray