How Long Do You Have to Wait for a Dermatologist Appointment?

Last updated on June 25, 2024

Dermatologist Appointment

An average American dermatology appointment waitHMO

While the average wait time for a dermatologist’s visit is 34.5 days nationwide, your actual wait time can vary widely depending on where you live. For example, the waiting time is 7 times longer in Philadelphia (longest on average) than in Miami (shortest on average).

Learn more about the wait time for a dermatologist where you live:

Average wait times for an appointment with a dermatologist
(By metropolitan area)

• Atlanta: 13 days
• Boston: 52 days
• Dallas: 22 days
• Denver: 51 days
• Detroit: 27 days
• Houston: 28 days
• Los Angeles: 35 days
• Miami: 11 days
• Minneapolis: 30 days
• New York: 15 days
• Philadelphia: 78 days
• Portland: 30 days
• San Diego: 30 days
• Seattle: 42 days
• Washington, DC: 20 days

Why Does It Take So Long to See a Dermatologist?

Cosmetic Dermatology versus Medical Concerns

Cosmetic dermatologylaser hair removal

Michael Gold M.D. sums up his argument for this trend in this short excerpt:

In today’s world, when you combine medical and cosmetic dermatology, where one is a cash-paying business and one is a wait-to-be-reimbursed business, many of us who do this have time slots available for our cosmetics patients that make it quicker to get into the clinic than new medical patients who have had a rash for 6 months and 14 doctors who have seen them before.

If you call my office and say “I have been diagnosed with a malignant melanoma,” you’re in my office tomorrow, no matter what — as long as it can be verified with a pathology report. But if you call with a 10-year-old mole that ‘may be changing,’ we’ll get you in as soon as we can. And if you call with a skin tag that’s bothering you, you’ll wait until we have an opening.

Shortage of Dermatologists

While many believe that the increase in cosmetic dermatology takes dermatologists’ time away from medical patients, some believe that the answer to longer wait times is simpler.

Associate Professor of Dermatology at the Harvard Medical School, Alexa B. Kimball, M.D., M.P.H. notes, “[There is a] tremendous demand for services and limit in supply of dermatologists available.”

The doctor’s observation can be confirmed by the following data. As of 2015, there were 13,847 dermatologists practicing across the US. Here’s the breakdown by region:

• North: 2,579
• East: 3,538
• South: 4,433
• West (including Alaska and Hawaii): 3,297

Do You Actually Need an In-Person Dermatologist Visit?

Unless you suspect a cancerous mole or need prescription-strength acne medication, the answer is probably NO.

Over 70% of skin conditions can be treated with over-the-counter medication. Most people go into the dermatologist’s office because they have itchy red bumps. And one common cause of these itchy red bumps is allergy-related hives.

Normally, you’d have to wait 29 days to see a family doctor to get a referral to a dermatologist, wait another 32 days to actually get a diagnosis from the dermatologist, and then wait another 29 days to a get a blood test at your primary clinic. Sounds pretty complicated, huh?

Great hack to speed up your treatment process: An online dermatologist can easily identify allergy-related rashes from images of the affected area. Instead of waiting for an appointment with a dermatologist, bring the teledermatology evaluation to your family doctor. Ask for a blood allergy test. The blood allergy test can look at your sensitivity to hundreds of different allergens and give you a full picture of your allergies. After you remove the allergen from your daily routine, the hives rarely last more than a day. And now, you’ve cut your waiting time to one-third.

Obviously, not all skin problems are hives. To give you a better idea, here are some common skin conditions we’ve got from helping over 20,000 users.

15 Most Common Skin Diseases (submitted to First Derm)

1. Dermatitis
2. Folliculitis
3. Insect Bite
4. Urticaria (Hives)
5. Basal Cell Carcinoma
6. Acne
7. Herpes Simplex Virus
8. Abscess
9. Impetigo
10. Rosacea
11. Nummular Eczema
12. Scabies
13. Psoriasis
14. Balanitis
15. Herpes Zoster (Shingles)

Sources

1. Miller P. Physician Appointment Wait Times Getting Longer. AMN Healthcare. September 12, 2022. Available at: https://www.amnhealthcare.com/blog/physician/perm/physician-appointment-wait-times-getting-longer/.
2. Market Profile of U.S. Dermatologists: OneKey Market Insight Report
3. Patient Wait Times: Bumped by Botox?
4. Itchy Red Bumps on Skin – Potential Causes

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