How DermDesk works
From consultation room to specialist opinion in 4 business hours — designed to take under 5 minutes of your time, while the patient is still with you.
Open a new case during the consultation
Log in on any device — the form is built mobile-first for the consultation room. Record your own internal file reference for the patient (never their name or ID number), their age and sex, and confirm consent. The consent wording is stored with the case.
Add clinical context
Body location, how long the condition has been present, symptoms, current medications, relevant history, and anything already tried. Tick-boxes and dropdowns keep it under a minute.
Photograph the condition
Take one wider shot for location context and one close-up, directly with your phone camera. Add dermoscopy or additional lesions if relevant — one to five photos per case. Photos are compressed on your device, so it works on 3G.
Pay and submit
Submit with one of your practice's prepaid credits — no card in the room — or pay R350 by card or instant EFT via Payfast. Working offline during loadshedding? Your draft is saved on your device and you submit when connectivity returns.
A dermatologist reviews
Our AI immediately prepares an internal draft analysis for the specialist — never for you to act on directly. The registered dermatologist reviews your photos and notes alongside it, then confirms, edits, or rewrites the assessment.
Receive your response — target 4 business hours
You're notified the moment the response is ready (the notification itself never contains clinical detail). Log in for the full assessment and management plan: treat, monitor, biopsy, or refer, with treatment guidance. The complete case stays on the platform as a permanent, printable record.
The clinical position
Every response delivered through DermDesk is authored and approved by a registered South African dermatologist. AI analysis is internal decision support for the specialist — it is never shown to you unreviewed, and the final clinical decision always rests with you as the treating practitioner and the reviewing specialist.
Questions about the process
- Who reviews the cases I submit?
- Every case is reviewed by a registered South African dermatologist. Our AI analysis assists the specialist internally to speed up their review, but the response you receive is always authored and approved by the dermatologist — you will never receive an unreviewed AI answer.
- How fast will I get a response?
- Our target is 4 business hours from submission to specialist response. Most cases are designed to be actionable the same business day, often while the patient can still return the same afternoon.
- What does DermDesk cost?
- R350 per case, paid by card or instant EFT via Payfast — or less with a prepaid credit bundle (5 or 10 cases; the 10-bundle is buy 10, pay for 8). Founding practices pay R250 per case for six months from launch: the founding rate is offered at registration while fewer than 50 founding practices have paid for a case or bundle, and once offered it is yours for the whole window. No subscription, no monthly minimum, no contract. Billing is attached to your practice, so charges roll up cleanly for your accounts.
- What are case credits?
- Prepaid cases your practice buys once, in a bundle of 5 or 10. Each submission then uses one credit, so nobody needs a card in the consulting room. Credits are shared by everyone at the practice, do not expire during the pilot, and are returned to your balance if a case cannot be reviewed.
- Is this a diagnosis?
- DermDesk is clinical decision support from a registered dermatologist to you as the treating practitioner. The final clinical decision always rests with you and the reviewing specialist. It does not replace an in-person consultation where one is clinically indicated.
- How is patient privacy protected (POPIA)?
- We never collect patient names, ID numbers, or contact details. You record only your own internal file reference, the patient's age and sex, clinical notes, and photographs. All patient data is stored encrypted in South Africa. Notifications never contain any clinical information.