[Teledermatology. Review of 917 teleconsults].
BACKGROUND
Teledermatology is been currently introduced as a diagnostic tool in the daily practice of the dermatologist. Many published works regarding teleconsult show the high sensitivity and economic saving of this technique as a diagnostic method.


METHODS
In this article we report our experience with nearly 1,000 teleconsults carried out in a period of two years, from October 2004 to October 2006.


RESULTS
The majority of the 917 teleconsults performed were for benign lesions, notably seborrheic keratosis in 201 cases; among malignant lesions actinic keratosis appeared in 161 cases and melanoma was diagnosed in 5 cases. Fifty-eight percent of teleconsults have been arranged for a face-to-face consult in order to perform adequate treatment, in 90 % of cases, or to confirm diagnosis or carry out complementary exams, in 10 % of cases.


CONCLUSIONS
The image is the gold standard for dermatological diagnosis. Currently, digital phototography gives us such a high image quality that, based on our experience, it can be stated that a neoplastic lesion that cannot be diagnosed by a high quality digital image with the available technology, rarely could be diagnosed in a face-to-face consult without the aid of complementary exams.
Martínez-García
S
S
Servicio de Dermatología y Venereología, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Carlos Haya, Málaga. silvestremg@eresmas.net
del Boz-González
J
J
Martín-González
T
T
Samaniego-González
E
E
Crespo-Erchiga
V
V
D006801:Humans; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D017216:Telemedicine