http://www.dermnetnz.org/

The great thing about DermNet is their images are of good quality. With better and better desktop monitors and LCD screens, we are starting to get some pretty impressive displays. They can horrify an unsuspecting patient, but at the same time create that immediate horoscope-like recognition in just three nanoseconds.

DermNet started in 1997 and has been remarkable because of its relative perpetuity. It has remained a sponsored site and would be a not inexpensive site to maintain with the quality it enjoys, thanks in the main to diligent and dedicated management by tireless dermatologist and webmistress Amanda Oakley, along with the support of 25 or so dermatologist editors.

The site now attracts some 19,000 web hits daily (March 2006), which is no mean feat after just 300 hits a day in 1997. This year DermNet was ranked number 4 in the Hitwise New Zealand (health industry section) based on the number of site visits.

What you can find on the site

While DermNet has a limited section for medical professionals, it does have a much more comprehensive family health-type "textbook" format for patients.

The patient section gives it the classical diagnostic algorithm of various basic types of dermatosis: scaly, acneiform, dry, vesicular, ulcerative, subdermal, pigmentary, etc.

The professionals' section includes a brief subsection on dermoscopy; however, there are only three cases provided. It would certainly be useful to add in a decent section on proper dermoscopy in practice and perhaps a dermoscopy atlas with more practices needing to find the money to purchase these expensive little magnifying torches.

There are also a dozen or so dermatology CME cases (each with 10 diagnostic challenges) but they do seem to have come to a halt in 2004 possibly at the time when the associated New Ethicals Skin Challenge series ceased production.

Perhaps the best section on DermNet could in fact be the dermatology news section, which comes from the Medical News Today service, and is certainly up to date.

There is an excellent glossary with intensive image-supported explanatory terms for most of those long and easily forgettable dermatology words (like poikiloderma and venulectasia) and also a site index which is a page index to all the conditions in the website.

There is also a links page, which is quite comprehensive. It includes such obscure but important organisations such as the Primary Care Dermatology Society and a dedicated dermoscopy site (including a GP- oriented training module).

A topical medication treatment section covers a wide range of various topical therapies including recent additions such as imiquimod (Aldara) and pimecrolimus (Elidel) and also a section on procedures to treat the skin (including cryotherapy, biopsy, curettage and cautery).

A further link site called Healthology provides audio (podcast) patient education downloads, eg, their section on psoriasis has a full 10 separate downloadable patient information podcasts. Great maybe for all those acne-plagued kids with iPods.