Do you want to know how to become a dermatologist?

A dermatologist is a physician who specializes in treating the skin, hair and nail. They diagnose infections and diseases like acne, psoriasis, eczema and skin cancer. A dermatologist also helps patients improve how they look by diminishing the patient’s wrinkles and lessen the acne scars.

Preparation for Medical School

Ready yourself

The first step on how to become a dermatologist is to prepare for medical school. Before entering into the field of medicine, you must get as much experience as you can since you will be working with people who needs help. Do you have the passion to care for other people’s needs? A great way to prepare yourself for medical school is to volunteer your time in a hospital or in a community center. This way you will be exposed to the realities of being a major caretaker.

Preparations Before College

Begin the preparations for your career in medicine while still in high school. Take advanced courses in math and science, especially in biology and chemistry. You also have to explore and search for colleges and universities with good pre-medical programs for you to know where to enroll in college.

College Admission

After completing high school, you can now enroll in a college or university of your choice. Enroll in any pre-medical courses like anatomy and physiology, chemistry, biology and physics. It takes 4 years to complete a Bachelor’s Degree.

Going to medical school

Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)

Medical College Admission Test is a pre-requisite to enter medical school. It is vital that you get a high grade in the test for your admission to the medical school of your choice. The only key to passing the MCAT test is to study and review hard. You should be physically and mentally prepared.

Medical School Admission

Once you receive a positive result in your MCAT test, begin searching and applying for medical schools.  This will be your admission to a medical education for dermatology. You will gain more knowledge in physiology, pathology, immunology and biochemistry. The medical school will take another four years to complete.

Training and Certification

Residency Training

After the completion of the medical course, students must pass the qualifying exam to begin their residency. Residency training includes participation in clinical rotation, perform various medical procedures and conduct patients’ exam and case study. Residents are also required to practice the clinical area of surgery, pigment cell disorders, allergies and rheumatic skin disease. Residency training takes three to four years to complete.

Certification and Licensure

Residents who have successfully completed their residency training are now eligible to be certified by passing the Dermatology Licensure Examination. After passing the licensure examination, dermatologist now holds a valid license and can now practice the chosen field.

Professional Development

Because being a dermatologist is a continuous learning, you are required to maintain the certification and take a re-certification exam every ten years. You must be up-to-date with the latest technical and medical advancement in the field. You can achieve this by taking professional and educational development courses and to attend workshops, seminars and conferences all throughout your career.

Consideration

If a dermatologist is considering combining degrees of medicine and dermatology, you will have to enroll again in a medical school in a span of four to five years to have sub-specialties such as pediatric dermatology and Derma-pathology and earn additional surgical techniques. In addition to dermatologist medical training, they should possess more critical and analytical skills.

Opportunities and Income

To be a licensed dermatologist, one should go through comprehensive studies and training. However, the good news is dermatologists are one of the highest paid medical professionals today. Unlike other professions, the number of years of experience doesn’t have much impact because a dermatologist with less than a year of experience usually earns a salary of $170,000 per year. The dermatologist career outlook is also promising since there is a continuous demand in every state. Vacancies in this field increase for about 14% per year.

Dermatology is one of the most competitive career in the medical field. With this comprehensive report on how to become a dermatologist, are you ready to become one?