Teledermatology

Tuesday, February 27, 2007  | Watson AJ, Bergman H, Kvedar JC

eMedicine 27 February 2007

Introduction:
The use of communications technology to facilitate the provision of health care for persons with skin disease is an area of increasing interest and activity. Following the first article on this topic in 1995, more than 180 publications have reported on active research projects from across the globe (PubMed search "teledermatology"). In 2005, a survey by the American Telemedicine Association reported 62 active teledermatology programs in 37 different US states.

Despite this level of interest and activity, questions remain regarding how best to use the available technology and overcome the current adoption challenges, thus allowing teledermatology to become an integral element of mainstream care delivery.

The following sections address why telemedicine is a valuable resource for dermatology, the current extent of its practice, the challenges in validating teledermatology as an effective adjunct to conventional care, and the factors limiting widespread adoption.

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