Start with the Black Health dermatology directory, then the Skin of Color Society's Find a Doctor tool, then Black Derm Directory, then the four academic skin of color clinics listed below. If those come up empty for your area, a teledermatology visit with a skin of color specialist licensed in your state is the next-best route, and the five vetting questions further down tell you in one phone call whether any dermatologist can read your skin. The search takes work because the numbers are against you: in 2016, dermatologists writing in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology put the share of US dermatologists who are Black at 3 percent (Pandya and colleagues).
Black dermatologists are about 3 percent of the specialty
The most recent peer-reviewed national count we can verify is from 2016. In a call to action in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Amit Pandya and coauthors reported that Black dermatologists made up 3 percent of US dermatologists and Hispanic dermatologists 4.2 percent (PMID 26774427); a 2022 review in the Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology quoted the same figures as still current (PMID 36381186). The AAMC now publishes specialty-by-race data only in an interactive dashboard we could not read a dermatology row from, so we are not printing a newer number.
Geography makes a small number smaller. A 2018 JAMA Dermatology analysis of county-level federal data found 3.65 dermatologists per 100,000 people in 2013, a widening urban-rural gap, and dermatologists clustered in well-resourced urban counties (Feng et al., PMID 30193349). Outside a major metro, the nearest Black dermatologist may be in another state.
Why a dermatologist trained on dark skin changes the diagnosis
Dermatologists learn to recognize disease from pictures, and the pictures skew light. Researchers who coded 4,146 images in four core medical textbooks found 74.5 percent showed light skin tones, 21 percent medium, and 4.5 percent dark (Louie and Wilkes, Social Science and Medicine, 2018); a 2021 JAAD study of dermatology textbooks specifically found the same under-representation (Adelekun, Onyekaba, and Lipoff, PMID 32335181). A clinician trained on those images has seen your condition mostly on someone else's skin.
The stakes are concrete. In a federal cancer-registry analysis covering 1986 to 2005, 36 percent of melanomas in Black patients were acral lentiginous melanoma, the type that grows on palms, soles, and under nails, and acral melanoma carried a 5-year melanoma-specific survival of 80.3 percent against 91.3 percent for cutaneous melanoma overall (Bradford et al., Archives of Dermatology, 2009). A dermatologist who skips your palms, soles, and nail beds is skipping where a third of melanomas in Black patients appear.
Where to look, in order
1. The Black Health dermatology directory
Our dermatology directory lists Black dermatologists and dermatologists who focus on Black patients, each checked against the NPI Registry or a state license board before the listing goes public. Enter a ZIP code and radius, then filter by accepting new patients, insurance, language, and telehealth. City pages run from Birmingham to Columbus to Atlanta. If your city shows nothing, widen the radius; results are distance-sorted.
2. The Skin of Color Society's Find a Doctor tool
The Skin of Color Society directory lists member dermatologists who have made skin of color their stated focus, whatever their own background, filterable by condition, city, state, credentials, and practice type. The page notes that more results are visible to logged-in members, so if your state comes up thin, call the Society's office for a referral.
Whatever brought you to this page, community health centers see patients regardless of insurance and charge on a sliding scale that is often $0. Our directory of free and charitable clinics lists verified centers by state. A same-day telehealth visit is self-pay and is not billed to Medicaid, so if you have Medicaid the clinic route will usually cost less. If you would rather see a clinician online today:
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3. Black Derm Directory
Black Derm Directory was founded by Achiamah Osei-Tutu, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York, after repeated requests from patients of African descent. It connects patients with board-certified dermatologists, including clinicians outside the United States.
4. The AAD's Find a Dermatologist list
The American Academy of Dermatology's Find a Dermatologist tool is the broadest national list of board-certified dermatologists, searchable by location, condition, and procedure; we found no skin of color filter. Use it last, to confirm a name from the directories above is a board-certified AAD member.
5. Academic skin of color clinics
Four university programs run dedicated skin of color clinics that take patients directly. We opened each clinic's own page; this is what those pages say.
- Henry Ford Multicultural Dermatology Clinic, Detroit. Specializes in "the diagnosis and treatment of skin, tissue, and hair conditions unique to women and men of ethnic heritage." henryford.com
- Northwestern Medicine Center for Ethnic Skin and Hair, Chicago. Founded in 2005, with a downtown site and a Bronzeville site; treats acne, melasma, vitiligo, keloids, alopecia, and hidradenitis suppurativa. feinberg.northwestern.edu
- UCSF Skin of Color Program, San Francisco. Established in 2018 by Jenna Lester, MD; call 415-353-7800 and ask to be scheduled in the Skin of Color clinic. dermatology.ucsf.edu
- Howard University Hospital Department of Dermatology, Washington DC. "Specializes in dermatological diseases of African Americans and other ethnic groups with dark skin," including vitiligo, melasma, and hair disorders in women. huhealthcare.com
When no Black dermatologist is within reach
Teledermatology, with one limit
A video or photo-based visit lets you see a skin of color specialist hours away, as long as that clinician holds a license in the state where you are sitting. A systematic review of 78 controlled studies in JAAD found that store-and-forward teledermatology (you send photos, the dermatologist reviews them) reached good diagnostic agreement with in-clinic care and cut time to treatment, but was inferior to in-person care for malignant lesions (Warshaw et al., 2011). So: use telehealth for rashes, acne, eczema, hyperpigmentation, and hair loss. Take a new or changing spot, especially on a palm, sole, or nail, to any board-certified dermatologist in person. Our directory's telehealth filter surfaces listings that offer video visits.
Send photos the dermatologist can use
The AAD's guidance: shoot in bright natural light from a window, on a neutral background, with no makeup or lotion on the area; take an orientation shot, a mid-distance shot, and a close-up sharp enough to show fine skin lines with a coin or ruler for scale; share only photos that are in focus and free of shadows and glare (aad.org). On dark skin, phone flash flattens texture and hides color change, so the window matters more, not less.
Five questions that vet any dermatologist
- What share of your patients have skin of color, and where did you train for it? A specific answer (a skin of color clinic rotation, a fellowship, Skin of Color Society membership) beats a reassurance.
- How does this condition look different on dark skin, and what does it get mistaken for? The clinician should name the differences without prompting.
- Do you check palms, soles, and nails in a full skin exam? Yes, every time.
- How do you treat the dark marks a rash or acne leaves behind, and how do you keep a procedure from causing them? Hyperpigmentation and keloid risk belong in the plan before treatment.
- If this is outside your expertise, who do you refer to? A real name beats an improvised one.
Referrals, Medicaid, and paying without insurance
Whether you need a referral depends on your plan type. Healthcare.gov's plan guide: point of service (POS) plans require a referral from your primary care doctor to see a specialist, PPO plans do not, and HMO plans limit coverage to in-network clinicians except in an emergency (healthcare.gov). Before you book, confirm the dermatologist is in network and ask the member line whether your plan requires a referral.
Medicaid is the hardest door in dermatology. In a 2021 JAMA Dermatology study, researchers placed 1,833 calls to 611 dermatology clinics in 28 states posing as a new patient with a changing mole. Callers with Medicaid got an appointment 17 percent of the time, against 96 percent for a commercial PPO and 94 percent for Medicare, and waited a median of 13 days versus 7 when they did (Creadore et al., PMID 33439219). Name your specific managed-care plan on the call, since a clinic that refuses "Medicaid" in general sometimes accepts a specific plan; use the insurance filter in our directory; and if a clinic turns you down, ask which clinics take your plan.
If you are uninsured, the price of a first visit varies widely by practice; our guide to the cost of a dermatologist visit without insurance covers what to ask before you book. A teledermatology visit is often the lowest-cost route to a skin of color specialist when paying cash.
How to get care
Open the Black Health dermatology directory, enter your ZIP code, set the radius to 50 miles, and turn on the telehealth filter if the local list is short. Then read our guide to a first dermatologist appointment on Black skin so you walk in with photos, a symptom timeline, and the five questions above. The evidence for choosing a Black clinician in the first place is in why finding a Black doctor matters.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a directory of Black dermatologists? ▼
Yes. The Black Health dermatology directory lists Black dermatologists and dermatologists who focus on Black patients, searchable by ZIP code, radius, insurance, language, and telehealth. Black Derm Directory is a second dedicated list, and the Skin of Color Society's Find a Doctor tool lists dermatologists of any background who specialize in skin of color.
How do I find a Black dermatologist near me? ▼
Search the Black Health dermatology directory by ZIP code, then widen the radius. If nothing comes up, check the Skin of Color Society directory and Black Derm Directory for your state, then the academic skin of color clinics in Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington DC. If none is within driving distance, book a teledermatology visit with a skin of color specialist licensed in your state.
Do I need a referral to see a dermatologist? ▼
It depends on your plan. According to healthcare.gov, POS plans require a referral from your primary care doctor to see a specialist and PPO plans do not; HMO plans cover only in-network clinicians. Call your plan's member line and ask whether the dermatologist is in network and whether a referral is required.
Does Medicaid cover a dermatologist? ▼
Medicaid covers medically necessary dermatology, but getting an appointment is the problem: in a 2021 study of 611 dermatology clinics in 28 states, callers with Medicaid got an appointment 17 percent of the time. Name your specific managed-care plan when you call, use the insurance filter in the Black Health directory, and ask any clinic that refuses you which clinics accept your plan.
