Most skin diseases, including common disorders such as eczema, psoriasis and acne, can now be successfully treated. Dermatologists are often underutilized because the medical and lay communities are unaware of the diagnostic and therapeutic power of modern dermatology.

Normal and abnormal skin provides an excellent opportunity for teaching students of medicine at all levels of training and experience. If dermatology is taught with skill and enthusiasm, it teaches more than cutaneous biology and pathophysiology. Dermatology can be exciting and useful introduction to diagnostic pattern recognition and a window to many systemic diseases.

Skin has a highly vasoactive blood supply, is an immune organ and is easily available for non-invasive optical diagnostic and for biochemical and microscopic studies. The skin is an extremely useful model system and substrate for diverse research programs.