What’s in a Name?
July 2004
O ne aspect of being a cosmetic dermatologist or dermatologic surgeon or procedural dermatologist or esthetic physician — or any of the other descriptions that have flooded our profession during the past few years — is really who are we?
By that, I mean that about 15 years ago the field of dermatology essentially had a schism — dermatology split into two parts, creating surgical and medical dermatology. This happened much the way the entire field of medicine split 100 years ago when doctors were physician and surgeons.
Despite All the Confusion . . .
As confusing as it all may seem in the midst of this transition, this is an interesting and exciting time. For anyone who has any questions about how dermasurgery will benefit as a subspecialty, go back and read the Archives of Dermatology (and Syphilogy) from about 80 years ago when the specialty also included urology.
The ASDS on a Mission
I have had the pleasure of participating on the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery’s (ASDS) branding campaign for the past year. During this time, we’ve had the charge to “brand” our specialty in order to create a more memorable name for our subspecialty in the public’s eye.
Instead of being known as dermatologic surgeons, we hope to create instant awareness as the experts and innovators for skin surgery and cosmetic enhancement when laypeople hear the term “dermasurgeon.”
The ASDS formed a taskforce and hired an outside branding agency, Vigon/Ellis, to create this new term. In addition, a logo is currently under development.
For those of you who have never participated in the ASDS at a committee level, it has been an interesting and fun experience. The committee has met many times, and we have had some great discussions about what the goals of branding should be. We have met by phone, in person and on the Web to discuss the name of the specialty, colors for the logo, Webcasts and many other details.
Never having participated on an ASDS committee, I was, and remain, impressed by the altruistic nature of the committee. Each member donates his or her time and opinions in the hope of creating a more cohesive specialty and one that constantly improves its image and benefits for members.
Any reader who is not a member of ASDS should visit the organization’s Web site and join right now. Once you do — try to participate. Believe me, the experience of being a passive member compared to one who participates is vastly different.
Why the Timing is Right
The reasons that it is time to brand the specialty have been elucidated elsewhere but I would like to recapitulate them as I see them.
1. I am tired of patients coming to me with a skin cancer asking if they should see a plastic surgeon.
My standard response (for both men and women) is “Absolutely. When you are done getting a breast augmentation and want to treat your skin cancer, please let me know.
“As a board-certified dermatologist, I have trained for 3 years following my internship in internal medicine doing nothing but skin care. I have performed hundreds — if not thousands — of skin cancer surgeries during my skin-specialized training. This training consisted of 3 years of dermatology and dermatologic surgery. Following that, I completed a year of pathology of the skin including Mohs surgery.”
It would be nice to have a public identity that enables our profession to emerge from the realm of pimple popping to instead portray our wider breadth of therapeutic capabilities that we’ve gained through our specialty’s evolution.
Effective marketing has allowed other specialties to co–opt dermatologic procedures such as liposuction, laser, soft tissue augmentation, Botox, and yes, even skin cancer.
Dermasurgeons can whine about other specialists (such as internists, and gynecologists, etc.) invading their turf, or they can educate the public and the profession about what a dermasurgeon is and continue to conduct continuing medical education to ensure that its members adhere to the highest standards of practice and that they never become stagnant.
My opinion is that the latter approach will be more productive. I encourage all dermasurgeons to participate in this debate and to attend the many unbelievably good courses available through ASDS and allow the specialty to evolve. It can only benefit the specialty and its practitioners.
2. Branding ourselves with the moniker “Dermasurgeon” enables us to define our specialty as separate to ourselves. This allows us to focus on the specific goals and ideas that affect us. It will concentrate the membership and the public on who and what we are.
I believe that this is a worthwhile goal and one that by itself is worth the time, effort and expense of a branding campaign.
3. Branding will enable our members to distinguish ourselves from the multitude of non-dermatologists who are becoming instant “cosmetic” or “esthetic” doctors. Patients deserve the ability to distinguish a qualified dermasurgeon from someone who couldn’t make a living in their specialty.
Ripe for Change
To me, the question is not so much why we should form a subspecialty for dermatology surgery or why we should change our name from dermatologic surgeons to dermasurgeons, but why haven’t we done it sooner?
O ne aspect of being a cosmetic dermatologist or dermatologic surgeon or procedural dermatologist or esthetic physician — or any of the other descriptions that have flooded our profession during the past few years — is really who are we?
By that, I mean that about 15 years ago the field of dermatology essentially had a schism — dermatology split into two parts, creating surgical and medical dermatology. This happened much the way the entire field of medicine split 100 years ago when doctors were physician and surgeons.
Despite All the Confusion . . .
As confusing as it all may seem in the midst of this transition, this is an interesting and exciting time. For anyone who has any questions about how dermasurgery will benefit as a subspecialty, go back and read the Archives of Dermatology (and Syphilogy) from about 80 years ago when the specialty also included urology.
The ASDS on a Mission
I have had the pleasure of participating on the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery’s (ASDS) branding campaign for the past year. During this time, we’ve had the charge to “brand” our specialty in order to create a more memorable name for our subspecialty in the public’s eye.
Instead of being known as dermatologic surgeons, we hope to create instant awareness as the experts and innovators for skin surgery and cosmetic enhancement when laypeople hear the term “dermasurgeon.”
The ASDS formed a taskforce and hired an outside branding agency, Vigon/Ellis, to create this new term. In addition, a logo is currently under development.
For those of you who have never participated in the ASDS at a committee level, it has been an interesting and fun experience. The committee has met many times, and we have had some great discussions about what the goals of branding should be. We have met by phone, in person and on the Web to discuss the name of the specialty, colors for the logo, Webcasts and many other details.
Never having participated on an ASDS committee, I was, and remain, impressed by the altruistic nature of the committee. Each member donates his or her time and opinions in the hope of creating a more cohesive specialty and one that constantly improves its image and benefits for members.
Any reader who is not a member of ASDS should visit the organization’s Web site and join right now. Once you do — try to participate. Believe me, the experience of being a passive member compared to one who participates is vastly different.
Why the Timing is Right
The reasons that it is time to brand the specialty have been elucidated elsewhere but I would like to recapitulate them as I see them.
1. I am tired of patients coming to me with a skin cancer asking if they should see a plastic surgeon.
My standard response (for both men and women) is “Absolutely. When you are done getting a breast augmentation and want to treat your skin cancer, please let me know.
“As a board-certified dermatologist, I have trained for 3 years following my internship in internal medicine doing nothing but skin care. I have performed hundreds — if not thousands — of skin cancer surgeries during my skin-specialized training. This training consisted of 3 years of dermatology and dermatologic surgery. Following that, I completed a year of pathology of the skin including Mohs surgery.”
It would be nice to have a public identity that enables our profession to emerge from the realm of pimple popping to instead portray our wider breadth of therapeutic capabilities that we’ve gained through our specialty’s evolution.
Effective marketing has allowed other specialties to co–opt dermatologic procedures such as liposuction, laser, soft tissue augmentation, Botox, and yes, even skin cancer.
Dermasurgeons can whine about other specialists (such as internists, and gynecologists, etc.) invading their turf, or they can educate the public and the profession about what a dermasurgeon is and continue to conduct continuing medical education to ensure that its members adhere to the highest standards of practice and that they never become stagnant.
My opinion is that the latter approach will be more productive. I encourage all dermasurgeons to participate in this debate and to attend the many unbelievably good courses available through ASDS and allow the specialty to evolve. It can only benefit the specialty and its practitioners.
2. Branding ourselves with the moniker “Dermasurgeon” enables us to define our specialty as separate to ourselves. This allows us to focus on the specific goals and ideas that affect us. It will concentrate the membership and the public on who and what we are.
I believe that this is a worthwhile goal and one that by itself is worth the time, effort and expense of a branding campaign.
3. Branding will enable our members to distinguish ourselves from the multitude of non-dermatologists who are becoming instant “cosmetic” or “esthetic” doctors. Patients deserve the ability to distinguish a qualified dermasurgeon from someone who couldn’t make a living in their specialty.
Ripe for Change
To me, the question is not so much why we should form a subspecialty for dermatology surgery or why we should change our name from dermatologic surgeons to dermasurgeons, but why haven’t we done it sooner?
O ne aspect of being a cosmetic dermatologist or dermatologic surgeon or procedural dermatologist or esthetic physician — or any of the other descriptions that have flooded our profession during the past few years — is really who are we?
By that, I mean that about 15 years ago the field of dermatology essentially had a schism — dermatology split into two parts, creating surgical and medical dermatology. This happened much the way the entire field of medicine split 100 years ago when doctors were physician and surgeons.
Despite All the Confusion . . .
As confusing as it all may seem in the midst of this transition, this is an interesting and exciting time. For anyone who has any questions about how dermasurgery will benefit as a subspecialty, go back and read the Archives of Dermatology (and Syphilogy) from about 80 years ago when the specialty also included urology.
The ASDS on a Mission
I have had the pleasure of participating on the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery’s (ASDS) branding campaign for the past year. During this time, we’ve had the charge to “brand” our specialty in order to create a more memorable name for our subspecialty in the public’s eye.
Instead of being known as dermatologic surgeons, we hope to create instant awareness as the experts and innovators for skin surgery and cosmetic enhancement when laypeople hear the term “dermasurgeon.”
The ASDS formed a taskforce and hired an outside branding agency, Vigon/Ellis, to create this new term. In addition, a logo is currently under development.
For those of you who have never participated in the ASDS at a committee level, it has been an interesting and fun experience. The committee has met many times, and we have had some great discussions about what the goals of branding should be. We have met by phone, in person and on the Web to discuss the name of the specialty, colors for the logo, Webcasts and many other details.
Never having participated on an ASDS committee, I was, and remain, impressed by the altruistic nature of the committee. Each member donates his or her time and opinions in the hope of creating a more cohesive specialty and one that constantly improves its image and benefits for members.
Any reader who is not a member of ASDS should visit the organization’s Web site and join right now. Once you do — try to participate. Believe me, the experience of being a passive member compared to one who participates is vastly different.
Why the Timing is Right
The reasons that it is time to brand the specialty have been elucidated elsewhere but I would like to recapitulate them as I see them.
1. I am tired of patients coming to me with a skin cancer asking if they should see a plastic surgeon.
My standard response (for both men and women) is “Absolutely. When you are done getting a breast augmentation and want to treat your skin cancer, please let me know.
“As a board-certified dermatologist, I have trained for 3 years following my internship in internal medicine doing nothing but skin care. I have performed hundreds — if not thousands — of skin cancer surgeries during my skin-specialized training. This training consisted of 3 years of dermatology and dermatologic surgery. Following that, I completed a year of pathology of the skin including Mohs surgery.”
It would be nice to have a public identity that enables our profession to emerge from the realm of pimple popping to instead portray our wider breadth of therapeutic capabilities that we’ve gained through our specialty’s evolution.
Effective marketing has allowed other specialties to co–opt dermatologic procedures such as liposuction, laser, soft tissue augmentation, Botox, and yes, even skin cancer.
Dermasurgeons can whine about other specialists (such as internists, and gynecologists, etc.) invading their turf, or they can educate the public and the profession about what a dermasurgeon is and continue to conduct continuing medical education to ensure that its members adhere to the highest standards of practice and that they never become stagnant.
My opinion is that the latter approach will be more productive. I encourage all dermasurgeons to participate in this debate and to attend the many unbelievably good courses available through ASDS and allow the specialty to evolve. It can only benefit the specialty and its practitioners.
2. Branding ourselves with the moniker “Dermasurgeon” enables us to define our specialty as separate to ourselves. This allows us to focus on the specific goals and ideas that affect us. It will concentrate the membership and the public on who and what we are.
I believe that this is a worthwhile goal and one that by itself is worth the time, effort and expense of a branding campaign.
3. Branding will enable our members to distinguish ourselves from the multitude of non-dermatologists who are becoming instant “cosmetic” or “esthetic” doctors. Patients deserve the ability to distinguish a qualified dermasurgeon from someone who couldn’t make a living in their specialty.
Ripe for Change
To me, the question is not so much why we should form a subspecialty for dermatology surgery or why we should change our name from dermatologic surgeons to dermasurgeons, but why haven’t we done it sooner?
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