Here’s how to prepare for your online dermatology consultation with me if you have a skin concern and think I can help you. Following these tips will help to ensure that our communication is optimal and that I can assist you with the utmost precision.
You know that I offer the option of doing the consultation by video or by message. These instructions are general and will be useful for both methods. In both cases, the consultation will take the form of a conversation, so that both you and I will have the opportunity to ask each other any questions or doubts we may have.
1-Sort out your concerns
Take the time to sort out your concerns and worries about your skin.
In the consultation by message you will have the opportunity to write down what is happening to you in detail. It is important for me to know how long you have had it, how it appeared and which parts of the skin it affects. It is also important to know if you have already been seen by a doctor or have been treated before our conversation. Take your time and tell me everything calmly.
In the video-consultation we will discuss this part face to face. It is very interesting that before starting it you have clear the points to be discussed so that you do not miss anything :)
2- Fill in the form
On my online consultation page I have posted a comprehensive questionnaire with questions that I find very helpful in understanding your story. Perhaps you have answered some or several of these questions in the wording of your concern. In any case, the form can always serve as a guide to the important ideas about your query.
3- Take pictures and share them
In order to assess the reason for your consultation, it is essential that you send me photos* of your current situation. If you have contracted or are going to contract a video consultation, you will see that in that case I will also ask you for them. The definition of the image during the video call with current technology does not yet allow me to make a satisfactory assessment of the skin.
*At the moment of contracting the consultation by message, the system allows you to attach 4 files. However, once the consultation is sent, after the first contact, you will be able to send me as many as you consider appropriate.
Photographing skin is not easy. Although cell phone cameras have technically improved a lot in recent years, it is not always easy to get a good focus on the skin surface. Therefore, it will be very useful if you send more than one photograph following the tips I share below:
·Look for good light:
Position yourself in a location with good light and avoid shadows in the image. Try to point the light source toward the lesions you want to photograph and avoid backlighting (for example, if you take a picture of your face with the window behind you, the window will capture the light of the image and your face will be in shadow, making it difficult to see).
Take pictures with and without flash. In some cases, some allow a better evaluation than others, and it is difficult for me to make a general recommendation, so if you do both, we cover all possibilities.
·Focus on the interesting part of the image:
Pay attention to the focus of the image. It is important that the lesions you want to evaluate are in focus and not blurred. It can happen that when you take a picture of the skin, its surface is blurred, or the camera has focused on a hair on the skin instead of the granite in question.
Usually on cell phones, this can be solved by touching the screen with your finger on the area you want to focus on.
·Use different framing:
Take pictures of the affected area with different framing. For example, if you have some pimples on your back, you can take one or more photos directly of the pimples and another of the whole back so that I can see where they are located exactly.
In summary…
The more detailed and documented your inquiry is, the more likely I will be able to guide you and the more the procedure will resemble a face-to-face consultation. However, don’t worry about getting everything perfect from the beginning. If I need more data or photos, I will not hesitate to ask you for them in order to help you as accurately as possible.
