Photo: BalikianFacialPlasticSurgery (CC BY 4.0)
Job description
The role starts with a thorough patient history and skin exam, then moves into recommending tests, biopsies, or imaging based on what's found. Beyond skin cancer screening, dermatologists treat scarring with techniques like dermabrasion or laser resurfacing, and many spend time consulting with other physicians who need a specialist's read on a puzzling case. Staying current matters here as much as anywhere in medicine: keeping up with journals, colleagues, and conferences is part of the ongoing job, not an occasional extra. Most of the day is spent on your feet moving between exam rooms, in a well-structured, team-based practice where growth in the specialty (over 6%) is faster than many other physician roles.
Pros
- Very high earning ceiling, up to $579k at the top of the range
- Faster than average projected job growth (6.4%)
- Mix of medical and procedural work with more predictable scheduling than many specialties
Cons
- Requires medical school plus residency in the specialty, a long and demanding training path
- A very small field nationally (around 400 projected openings), so positions are geographically limited
- On your feet most of the day performing exams and procedures back to back
A typical day
Hospital consult rounds open the day: the inpatient team needs a dermatologist's eye on a medication rash that could be something dangerous, and the exam plus a punch biopsy settles it — documented, recommendations written, team briefed. Back in clinic by 10, the schedule runs the specialty's full range: psoriasis managed with a biologic that's transformed the patient's life, a suspicious mole mapped and excised, a complex autoimmune case where the skin findings are the first clue to systemic disease. Between patients, health histories get recorded with the thoroughness that catches what others miss. A journal club paper on a new therapy waits at lunch, because the field's treatments evolve fast. Teaching threads through the afternoon — a resident presents cases, and the attending's questions do the teaching.
Tasks at the job
- Record patients' health histories.
- Recommend diagnostic tests based on patients' histories and physical examination findings.
- Read current literature, talk with colleagues, and participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in dermatology.
- Provide dermatologic consultation to other health professionals.
- Provide dermabrasion or laser abrasion to treat atrophic scars, elevated scars, or other skin conditions.
- Conduct complete skin examinations.
Workplace & working conditions
Work happens indoors in a climate-controlled setting, and most of the day is spent on your feet, and you work in close physical proximity to coworkers or the public for much of the shift. Standard safety equipment like gloves or safety glasses is commonly worn.
There's a regular, moderate amount of time pressure, and you're expected to exercise significant independent judgment day to day. Mistakes can have serious consequences, so accuracy matters a lot, and the work is highly structured, following set procedures. You'll regularly deal with frustrated or upset people as part of the job, and almost all of the work is done as part of a team.
Education necessary or common
Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO), plus residency training in the specialty
Common college majors
Licenses & certifications
- MD or DO degree
- Dermatology residency
- Board certification (American Board of Dermatology)
- State medical license
Career path
Related fields
Courses to take
- AP Biology and AP Chemistry — the premed spine
- Anatomy & Physiology
- AP Calculus or Statistics — medical school math expectations
- AP Psychology — patient communication foundations
- English — clinical documentation and eventual publications
Clubs, activities & competitions
- HOSA
- Science fair with a biology or health project
- Hospital volunteering — sustained, not token
- Peer tutoring in science — teaching is part of medicine
First steps you can take now
- Shadow a physician in any specialty to test the clinical setting itself
- Take the hardest science schedule your school offers
- Read a dermatology case-of-the-week online — the visual diagnosis puzzle is the job's flavor
- Build sun-safety knowledge and share it — prevention is dermatology's public health side
