Dermatologist appointments can be hard to line up

A study published last summer (but still getting media attention) in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that new patients seeking appointments for possible skin cancer had to wait an average of more than 5 weeks to see a dermatologist:

So a pair of California researchers decided to put these complaints to the test. Posing as patients concerned about a "changing mole" (aka skin cancer central), they called 851 dermatologists across the country to make appointments and reported the results in a 2006 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

The average wait time given them was 38 days, with doctors' offices in some cities taking much longer: 47 days in Syracuse, N.Y., 48 days in Phoenix and a whopping 73 days in Boston.

Several possible reasons were cited, including the increasing caseload of cosmetic dermatology, which is more lucrative than treating medical issues; the artificial limits put on the number of new doctors, even as our nation's population continues to grow; and other issues:

"Dermatologists are seeing an increase in demand for everything," says Dr. Jack Resneck, assistant professor of dermatology at University of California, San Francisco, and co-author of the 2006 study. "There are a lot of new treatments available for diseases like psoriasis and eczema, so those patients are coming in more. There's also been an explosion in the amount of skin cancer in the past couple of decades. Patients have become more educated about the warning signs, so a lot more people are coming in for skin checks."

For people with psoriasis, the study is a reminder that if you see your dermatologist regularly, it is wise to schedule those appointments well in advance. An article in the Boston Globe on the same study also noted that asking a primary care physician to help you schedule your derm appointment can help:

Meanwhile, doctors say patients who are concerned about waiting should try to get their primary care doctor to advocate for them -- although many primary care doctors say they're stretched to the limit, too.

Finally, we should note that this article had 'patients' cold-calling a new physician; some doctors give priority to existing patients. So have a dermatologist before you flare!

The actual study can be accessed here: Even patients with changing moles face long dermatology appointment wait-times: A study of simulated patient calls to dermatologists.