Top Challenge in Dermatology Cases

In this video, Jennie Tait, AHT, RVT, VTS (Dermatology), from Yu of Guelph Veterinary in Ontario, Canada, discusses the top challenge for diagnosing cases with dermatological clues.

Jennie Tait, AHT, RVT, VTS (Dermatology): Everybody hates dermatology because in dermatology all of the diseases look very similar. And that’s because there’s only so many reaction patterns we can see in the skin. So, that’s probably the toughest thing, is everything looking so similar.

Getting over that is tough, so that’s where the detective work comes in. If we get answers to these different questions, we kind of know what direction to focus in.

Lesion distribution patterns are actually really helpful. There are some diseases, for instance, if you have symmetric lesions, that means something on the inside is happening, so you’re looking for an internal disease process. If you don’t have symmetric lesions, then you’re looking at either parasites or an infection of some sort.

All these little clues help figure out which way you’re going to point.