Top Dermatologic Issues in Primary Care

This presentation will cover the top dermatologic issues in primary care. Primary care providers are often in a prime position to take care of patients with dermatologic issues, prior to referral to a dermatologist. While it is important to know when to refer patients to dermatology, it is also important to recognize that primary care providers can diagnose and treat many dermatologic conditions. If the diagnosis is unknown, but providers have the rights tools and preparation, procedures such as shave biopsies and punch biopsies can be performed to obtain a diagnosis in the primary care setting. These procedures will be briefly reviewed. Additionally, partnering with dermatopathologists to provide accurate and timely diagnosis with modern techniques and immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, or molecular testing is important. This presentation will cover top dermatologic inflammatory conditions that can be managed by primary care providers, including common entities like atopic dermatitis/eczematous conditions and psoriasis, but also seemingly more complex entities such as bullous (blistering) diseases. Additionally, this presentation will cover top dermatologic neoplasms encountered in primary care, including benign and malignant entities ranging from seborrheic keratosis, angiomas, acrochordons, cysts, and nevi, to basal cell carcinomas, squamous cell carcinomas, melanoma and others. This presentation will emphasize that primary care providers can counsel patients on self-skin care, protection from sun damage, and regular self-skin exams. Finally, this presentation will review some of the challenges in referral and access to specialty dermatologic care.