Teledermatology Services during COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience of a Tertiary Care center in Western India

BACKGROUND: Telemedicine has emerged as an important tool in providing patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, we aimed to study the clinico-epidemiological profile of patients seen in the teledermatology outpatient department (OPD) during the COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective data analysis of records of patients, who consulted in telemedicine OPD from 20 April 2020 to 5 Feb 2021 was done. RESULTS: Out of 2524 patients registered for teledermatology consultation, 2117 completed the process of teleconsultation. The mean age of patients was 35.59 ± 15.60 years. There was a male preponderance with 1372 (64.81%) patients while females were 745 (35.19%). 1773 (83.75%) patients were managed on telemedicine alone and 344 (17.42%) patients required face to face physical consultation. The most common disorder was dermatophytosis seen in 316 (17.82%) followed by hair disorders like androgenetic alopecia and telogen effluvium in 239 (13.48%), acne in 238 (13.42%) and dermatitis in 196 (11.05%). Blood investigations were advised in 365 (17.24%) patients and skin biopsy was advised in 23 (1.09%) patients. The major causes for incomplete teleconsultation procedure were no response to telephone calls in 207 (8.2%), 76 (3.01%) patients had taken a prior consultation and 60 (2.37%) patients didn’t give consent for teleconsultation. CONCLUSION: Common dermatological diseases like tinea, acne, hair disorders and dermatitis can be managed on telemedicine alone. In India, there are fewer dermatologists per population, therefore telemedicine can be continued even after the pandemic is over in cases where diagnoses and treatment are straight forward.