- It’s not surprising from data presented (see “Dermatology in Europe”) that the countries that seem to have a highest teledermatology usage are (2020):
- the Netherlands
- Spain
- the United Kingdom.
- In these countries, certain individuals have had key roles:
- In the Netherlands, Pr Leonard Witkamp, has been instrumental in driving teledermatology as part of standard practice with the development of the KSYOS Telemedicine Center. His academic unit has provided a lot of detailed data on development of teledermatology between primary and secondary cares and the cost effectiveness.
- In Spain, a number of individuals have played leading roles, but none more than Dr David Moreno.
- In the UK, Dr Saul Halpern, Dr David De Berker in Bristol and Dr Carolyn Charman in Exeter have been instrumental in driving forward the UK teledermatology agenda.
- Teledermatology in Europe: developing niches:
- Other countries, where teledermatology is not so mainstream, are now showing that they can use it for other more niche markets, such as communication between the dermatologist and emergency centers, management and monitoring of chronic conditions such as ulcers, as well as more challenging locations, such as dealing with prison populations.
- Scientific publications are also coming out of European countries:
- descriptions of setting up teledermatology services through pilot studies
- looking at the value of teledermoscopy. These latter publications are interesting as they are the same sort of publications that we would see coming out of countries such as the UK or Spain 15 years or more ago. Perhaps this shows that the uptake in the evolution of teledermatology is occurring in different countries at different rates.
Saul Halpern, MD. Teledermatology in Europe. 8th World Congress of Teledermatology, Skin Imaging and AI in Skin diseases – November 2020
