Become a Dermatology Nurse

If you are considering a career in nursing, you may be wondering about the different types of nursing positions you can choose from. Being informed on these varied fields will give you an idea of what extra classes or certifications you should take in order to be informed about your area of future expertise. There are several types of nursing profiles, and one of them is for a dermatology nurse. If you do not know what a dermatology nurse does, read on to find out more.

The field of dermatology encompasses a great deal of diseases and disorders because the skin is the largest organ we have in our bodies. There are so many different types of issues we can have with our skin, so working in dermatology is anything but boring. You will see anything from skin cancer to extreme acne to congenital deformities and more. Working with skin can be incredibly exciting.


In order to become a dermatology nurse, you must first earn a licensed practitioner nurse (LPN) degree, an associate's (registered nurse or RN) degree, or a bachelor's (BSN) degree in nursing. After graduating, you will have to take the National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX) in order to be licensed as a nurse.

One of the perks of working in dermatology is the broad spectrum of issues you will deal with. If you prefer to work with people who have basic skin problems like the varying degrees of acne, you can do that. However, you can also choose to focus on more serious skin problems such as shingles and skin cancer. Skin care and disease diagnosis is very important to all humans because of the major part that skin plays in our lives. Your face is the first thing that most people see, and your skin is all they see. Dermatology nurses also get paid anywhere from $30,000 to $75,000 a year.

Working with skin cancer patients, you will learn that there are three different types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. The most serious of these three is melanoma, whereas basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma are categorized as nonmelanoma skin cancer. You will know that you have come across one of these three diseases because of the presence of moles that are irregular. When attempting to figure out whether a mole is irregular, use the ABCD method. A stands for asymmetry, which means that you should take note whether the mole is symmetrical. B is for border irregularity, meaning you should look at the borders of the mole, and if they look uneven or notched, they could be cancerous. C stands for color, and if the mole is more than one color, or is not even close to matching the color of your other moles, you may have a problem. D means to look at the diameter of the mole, particularly noting if the mole is bigger than a pencil eraser. If the mole you are examining matches several of these guidelines, you should test the mole for cancer. Sometimes, however, melanoma cannot be tracked down with these guidelines. In that case, it would be prudent to inform the dermatologist.