What does dermatology mean?
Dermatology is the branch of medicine dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of conditions affecting the skin, hair, and nails. As a medical specialty, it covers everything from common complaints such as acne, eczema, and psoriasis to skin cancers, infections, and cosmetic concerns. A physician trained in this field is called a dermatologist, and the adjective form is dermatological. The word appears most often in formal contexts: hospital departments, medical journals, training programmes, and healthcare referrals all use it routinely. Because the skin is the body's largest organ and often the first visible sign of internal disease, dermatology sits at an interesting crossroads of general medicine, surgery, and aesthetics. For everyday speakers, the word is useful precisely because it names an entire specialty in one term — one might say a patient was 'referred to dermatology' without needing any further explanation.
nounThe branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the skin, hair, and nails.
- The branch of medicine that deals with the skin, hair, and nails, including their structure, function, diseases, and treatment.
"After months of unexplained rashes, she was finally referred to a dermatology specialist."
"He completed his residency in dermatology before opening a private practice."
"The hospital's dermatology unit sees hundreds of patients with eczema and psoriasis each month."
Extremely rare and generally not used; dermatology is an uncountable mass noun referring to a single field of medicine. A plural form would only appear in contrived contexts comparing different schools or national traditions of the discipline.
"The conference compared dermatologies across different healthcare systems — a phrasing so unusual that most writers would simply rephrase the sentence."
Your skin is your body's largest organ — about two square metres of it — and dermatology is the entire medical specialty devoted to keeping it healthy.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of dermatology
Dermatology derives from Greek roots: 'derma' (genitive 'dermatos'), meaning 'skin', combined with '-logia', meaning 'study' or 'discourse'. The combining form entered scholarly Latin and then modern European languages as medical terminology was systematised. English words sharing the same Greek root include epidermis, hypodermic, dermatitis, and taxidermy. The term became established in English during the era when modern medical specialities were being formally defined, around the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Related word forms
How dermatology is actually used
Dermatology is an uncountable noun referring to a field of study or medical practice; it takes singular agreement ('dermatology is'). It is a formal, technical term used mainly in medical, academic, and healthcare-administration contexts. The adjective form is 'dermatological' and a practitioner is a 'dermatologist'.
Easily confused with dermatology
Dermatology is the medical specialty dealing with the skin, while dermatitis is itself a skin condition (inflammation of the skin) that a dermatologist might treat.