Background: Urgent consultations for skin disorders are commonly done in different settings. Scarce data exist about the characteristics of these patients. Objective: The aim of this study was to analyse specific characteristics of patients receiving an urgent consultation at a dermatology department in a university hospital. Methods: We prospectively recorded the data of all patients having had an urgent consultation during a period of 12 months. Results: We registered 2,222 urgent consultations. The most frequent diagnoses were eczemas (24.8%), dermatomycoses (5.1%) and dermatitis not otherwise specified (4.8%). The most frequent treatments were topical steroids, emollients, topical antibiotics, systemic antihistamines, antibiotics and virostatics. 2.2% of patients were hospitalized, 78.8% asked for a consultation for a disease lasting less than 4 weeks, and 6.9% presented the same day as the skin disease appeared. Conclusions: This study shows the characteristics of patients receiving an urgent dermatologic consultation. It underlines the need for collaboration between dermatologists, other physicians, general practitioners and nurses.

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