Patients in France struggling to see a dermatologist are being offered new routes to have suspicious skin lesions checked, but the measures do not replace specialist care. A France 24 report describes clinics filling appointments within minutes and local initiatives that send lesion images to dermatologists for assessment.
France is expanding specialist training: the health ministry announced 130 dermatology internship positions for 2026, 26 more than the previous year. These are training places, not additional dermatologists immediately available to see patients, and the government has also cited tele-expertise and cooperation between health professionals as ways to improve access.
Local teams help flag suspicious lesions
In Occitanie, a pilot trained physiotherapists to use dermatoscopes and refer concerning lesions to specialists. The regional physiotherapists’ union reported that 13 practitioners carried out 35 checks, identifying four carcinomas and two melanomas. It said another 100 professionals were to receive training with support from regional health authorities.
The approach is intended to help identify lesions during routine appointments, with a dermatologist making the clinical assessment remotely. France’s tele-expertise system similarly allows a health professional to request a doctor’s opinion; it does not make the referring practitioner an independent diagnosing specialist.
A centre in Gazeran uses imaging technology to map skin lesions, with dermatologists reviewing the results. France 24 reported that the scan costs €84 and is not reimbursed by national health insurance. The network’s head told the broadcaster that AI can help classify lesions but is not reliable enough to replace a doctor.
These initiatives aim to make specialist expertise easier to access while France trains more dermatologists. They do not establish a nationwide skin-cancer screening programme, and the new training positions will take time to translate into additional clinical capacity.
Clayton Ward 
Reid Bentley