10 Things Dermatologists Won't Say

1. “Skin is in—but we might not be.”

Dermatologists, the medical experts on skin, have been battling a dramatic rise in skin-cancer rates in recent years. More than a million cases are diagnosed annually; cases of melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer, jumped from 47,700 in 2000 to nearly 69,000 last year. With such increases, many people are now visiting a dermatologist regularly. But not all. “In an ideal world, everyone would visit a dermatologist to have a baseline skin exam,” says Bruce Brod, a Lancaster, Pa., dermatologist who chairs a number of committees for the American Academy of Dermatology, the field’s professional organization. But, he adds, that’s difficult since there are only about 10,000 dermatologists in the U.S., serving 309 million people.

Many patients are looking to dermatologists for help with less press-ing matters. Last year there were more than 6 million nonsurgical cosmetic procedures performed in the U.S.—such as injections of Botox and fillers like Restylane to help with wrinkles, and laser treatments to encourage new skin growth, remove hair or eradicate blemishes. Dermatologists perform the bulk of these services. No wonder new patients had to wait an average of 34 days for an appointment.