Patients' acceptance of medical photography in a French adult and paediatric dermatology department: a questionnaire survey

Summary Background Despite the increasing use of medical photography by dermatologists, no study on patients' perceptions of photography in dermatology has been performed to date. Objectives Firstly, to evaluate patients' perceptions of medical photography. Secondly, to assess whether perceptions differed between patients in our adult department and parents accompanying a child in our paediatric department. Methods An opinion survey was conducted at the Hospital of Tours (France) among adult patients (adult department) and accompanying parents (paediatric department) by completion of a questionnaire after any medical photography had been performed. Results We collected 272 questionnaires regarding 158 adults and 114 children. A camera used only in the department, and storage of the images in the department's records were the most accepted modalities (> 90%), especially in the paediatric survey. Respondents agreed with the sharing of the images with other practitioners and in medical meetings (> 85%) rather than distribution via publications (58·3%), e‐mails (45·5%), health magazines (44·3%) and websites (32·0%). Most (78·8%) considered that the consent form should list all the possible uses of the images. Need for renewed consent for each use of the images was significantly more often expressed in the paediatric than the adult survey (44·5% vs. 24·5%, P = 0·001). More than 95% of respondents considered medical photography to be useful for improving diagnosis, monitoring of skin disease and aiding teaching. Conclusions These findings could be used to improve practice, to increase the acceptability of medical photography and for devising a standardized consent form for medical practitioners performing medical photography. What's already known about this topic? Despite the increasing use of medical photography, no study regarding patients' perceptions of photography in dermatology has been undertaken to date. What does this study add? We evaluated patients' perceptions of medical photography in a French adult and paediatric dermatology department to assess their acceptance of several practical aspects of medical photography and their opinions about the financial and legal implications.