Forum for Nordic Dermato-Venereology No 3, 2019 Telemedicine | Page 24

Carsten Sauer Mikkelsen, John Paoli, Sam Polesie and Jan Eklind – Hudläkarforum Q and A
How do you see Hudläkarforum develop in the future?
I would be happy if more people shared interesting cases. I
think we all learn from looking at and discussing cases and
how they have been handled. I believe many colleagues are
afraid of sharing cases. They might think it could damage
their reputation or be unfair to their patients. Of course, you
must not post full-face image or anything that allows anyone
to recognize the patient. I have discussed this many times
with John Paoli and we agree that sharing cases makes us all
better doctors.
Of course, I also learn from my colleagues here. Some weeks
ago, I shared a case that I excised and was a bit worried about.
My concern was if it was a desmoplastic melanoma (Fig. 1)?
Jan Lapins, my mentor from residency, replied promptly that
it was a sclerotic blue naevus. The pathology report came
back as exactly that. Now I know the next time I see one and
can leave it without surgery. This week someone else posted
a similar one and I could share my new knowledge.
I work mainly with private insurance patients and have stum-
bled upon numbers of lichen planus-like keratosis or “LPLK”
(in Swedish, benign lichenoid keratosis or “BLK”), which I
have saved dermoscopic and clinical pictures of and how I
dealt with them. Earlier I always mistook them for basal cell
carcinomas. The forum is searchable so you can search for
“BLK” and you can find them and similar cases with that as
a differential diagnosis.
I had an idea about starting a similar forum for genital derma-
tology for dermatologists, gynaecologists and urologists but
I had to drop it. If you post a picture on Facebook showing
genitals, you can get banned. It happened when I posted a
scrotum with cutaneous calcinosis. I was banned for 24 h,
and the image was removed. I appealed but without success.
Q uestions
and
A nswers - J ohn P aoli :
Why do you follow Hudläkarforum?
As one of the first members to join this closed group on Face-
book, I can definitely recommend it to all Nordic dermatolo-
gists. Jan Eklind’s work with the forum and his enthusiasm is
really inspiring. Slowly but surely, more and more members
are joining and also becoming more active in posting cases or
discussions as well as commenting on submitted posts. This is
a great trend, which we hope will continue. Since it is a closed
group, nobody has to be worried about guessing the wrong
diagnosis or asking what may seem like a silly question. It is
like being in a classroom where everyone is a teacher and a
student at the same time!
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T heme I ssue : T eledermatology
Fig. 1. An example from discussion at Hudläkarforum (sclerotic blue
naevus).
Q uestions
and
A nswers – S am P olesie :
How did you hear about Hudläkarforum?
I first heard about Hudläkarforum when I was attending a res-
idency course in venereology in Örebro in September 2016. A
friend showed me the group on her cell phone and added me
as a user. I have been an active and frequent user ever since.
Why are you a frequent user of the site?
I believe the forum is an excellent supplement to our conti­
nuous education and development as dermatologists. I believe
that there is a truly constructive, friendly and respectful on-
line attitude which permits a good environment for sharing
knowledge and ideas. All cases with good clinical and, when
Forum for Nord Derm Ven 2019, Vol. 24, No. 3