A Triad of Dermatologic Dilemmas

The U.S. health care system relies on primary care physicians to provide the majority of the dermatologic care-dermatologists see an estimated 30-40% of patients with dermatologic issues.1 Issues related to skin and mucous membrane conditions account for an estimated 8% of all visits to Family Physicians.2 Thus the primary care physician must be prepared to assess patients' with conditions benign or malignant, cosmetic or grave, irritants or harbingers of systemic illness, pathological or normal variant. In this article, three commonly seen and difficult to treat conditions will be reviewed.