Dermatology terminology is an attempt to describe dermatological diseases with the verbiage dermatologists actually use in speaking to each other. With many disorders, the description can be reduced to a word, or a phrase, or an acronym. This is termed the "keyword" phenomenon, where such a keyword substitutes for a much fuller and much lengthier formal presentation.


The keyword, together with a photo of the disease it represents, will be coupled with a short description and a literature reference for that disease. The photos will be from Dr Allens own collection or the collection at Drexel Dermatology.