News|Videos|May 18, 2026

How Online-Informed Patients Are Changing Dermatology Visits

Author(s)Raj Chovatiya, MD, PhD, Kathryn Celeste Durham, MD, David Cotter, MD, PhD

Fact checked by: Tim Smith

As dermatology patients enter clinical visits with information from social media, online forums, and AI inquiries, clinicians are juggling new concerns.

In recent years, the rise of the “online-informed” patient has transformed visits to dermatology practices, with clinicians increasingly encountering patients who greet them armed with TikTok skincare advice, Reddit-informed treatment data, AI-generated differential diagnoses, and screenshots from ChatGPT inquiries. In this feature, interviews between 4 leaders in dermatology and HCPLive highlight this trend as being simultaneously empowering to patients and potentially hazardous.