What is a dermatologist?

Dermatologists specialize in health problems that affect the skin, hair and nails. At Aurora, our dermatologists can perform medical, lab and surgical procedures to help you look and feel your very best – including cosmetic plastic surgery, Mohs surgery and other specialized surgeries.

Maintaining healthy skin

Your skin is your first line of protection against many diseases, so skin care is important. It’s the largest organ of the body and it protects and contains everything inside your body – including your other organs and your skeleton. Your skin warms you up and cools you down. It does all these things using nerve endings, sweat glands, hair follicles, pores, blood vessels and other parts.

Why should you see a dermatologist?

Dermatologists help you keep your skin healthy by treating everyday diseases and skin conditions like rashes, acne, psoriasis and rosacea in both pediatric patients and adult patients.

A dermatologist will keep track of any moles or unusual sections of skin. They can tell if anything changes over time, which can give you early warning about anything that might become a cancer. They’ll also give advice for skin care to help prevent premature aging or skin damage.

Dermatological conditions we treat

• Acne
• Actinic keratosis
• Athlete's foot
• Dermatitis
• Eczema & dry skin
• Hair loss
• Moles
• Nail disease
• Nervous sweating
• Psoriasis
• Rashes
• Ringworm
• Rosacea
• Sebaceous cyst
• Skin cancer
• Warts

What does a dermatologist do?

There are thousands of conditions that can affect your skin, hair and nails. Dermatologists are trained to diagnose and treat them.

Dermatologists also perform surgery when needed. If a skin condition may indicate skin cancer, they can do tests on a small sample (biopsy) to see if it’s cancerous. They can also remove moles, warts or benign cysts.

Your dermatologist can also treat conditions that affect appearance. Many are trained to perform cosmetic treatments like chemical peels to remove damaged skin and filler injections to make wrinkles less noticeable.

Dermatology treatments

For some conditions, treatment will come in the form of a lotion or cream. For others, your doctor may prescribe an oral medication. Your dermatologist may suggest a treatment plan that includes some of the following techniques:

• Laser therapy can remove moles, warts, sun damage, acne scars, blemishes, wrinkles, unwanted tattoos or unwanted hair.
• Cryotherapy uses extremely cold temperatures to remove skin tags, warts and some tumors.
• Sclerotherapy is used to treat spider veins and varicose veins. Chemicals are injected into the damaged veins to reduce their appearance.
• Dermabrasion may diminish the appearance of age spots, acne scars and fine lines.

Mohs surgery

Mohs surgery is used to treat some kinds of skin cancer. This well-established method requires additional training.

Your doctor will remove a thin slice of skin and examine it under a microscope for signs of cancer cells. They’ll continue removing a slice at a time until they get to a layer of skin where there aren’t any more cancer cells. This technique minimizes the removal of healthy skin.

Use our online search tool to find the dermatology specialist who’s right for you.