Dermatologist in Islamabad:

Skin diseases are commonly encountered by general practitioners, and in today’s health care system, most patients are evaluated first by their primary care physician before seeing a dermatologist. It is estimated that 6% of primary care outpatient visits are skin-related, and 60% of cutaneous diagnoses are made by nondermatologists.1 As the role of the general practitioner continues to grow, it remains imperative that these physicians are equipped to manage general dermatologic conditions. To determine which skin diseases internists most commonly encounter, Feldman et al2 analyzed the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data from 1990 to 1994. The top five dermatologic diagnoses made by internists during this period were dermatitis, bacterial skin infections, tinea, acne vulgaris, and herpes zoster. By highlighting these common diagnoses, it was anticipated that skin disease educational programs for internists would be tailored to these diseases. Moreover, this study demonstrated that diagnoses such as psoriasis, actinic keratosis, seborrheic keratosis, skin cancer, and benign tumors were commonly made by dermatologists but not by internists. These findings elucidated the overlapping yet differing role of the dermatologist and the internist, espousing the need for further communication and alliance in diagnosing a wide range of skin diseases.