Journal of

It is more than a decade that teledermatology has been considered as a potential substitute for the face to face visits. To evaluate its quality, the reliability and accuracy of teledermatology diagnoses are compared to those which are made in face to face visits. In this article, the results of the studies which have compared the reliability and accuracy of diagnoses had been made using teledermatology to the face to face visits were reviewed.

Different resources, such as electronic databases and e-journals were used to choose relevant articles related to teledermatology published between 1997 and 2013, and their main focus was on the reliability and accuracy of diagnoses in teledermatology compared to those in the face to face visits.

The reliability and accuracy of diagnoses in teledermatology compared to those in the face to face visits was more than 60%. Moreover, improving the reliability and accuracy depended on different factors, such as image quality, clinical information, differential diagnoses, consultation with other colleagues and gaining their secondary opinions.

It seems that providing adequate clinical information about patients can help to improve the reliability and accuracy of diagnoses in teledermatology. In this case, teledermatology can be used to provide healthcare services for the distant areas and the poor.