Share photographs of a skin concern before your appointment, so the GP can assess it properly on video.
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Skin is one of the few things that reviews well remotely, provided the photographs are good. You'll be asked to send clear, well-lit images before your appointment.
Anything needing a physical procedure, such as mole removal, will be referred rather than attempted remotely.
This is the part that determines whether the consultation is useful.
The GP reviews the images alongside your history — how long, what changes it, what you have already tried.
Including how much to apply and for how long, which is usually what determines whether treatment works.
More than any other consultation on this site, the outcome here depends on something you do before it starts. Most people's photographs are unusable, and it is nearly always the same three mistakes.
Hold the camera steady and let it focus before pressing. Upload through the secure system rather than by email or text.
This is the commonest reason a rash becomes hard to identify. Layers of antifungal, then steroid, then something from a chemist alter the appearance substantially — a fungal infection treated with steroid cream changes character entirely and becomes genuinely difficult to recognise.
If you have used several things, say so and list them. Where possible, stop all but a plain moisturiser for a couple of days and photograph it again.
Where it started and how it spread, whether it itches or hurts, what makes it better or worse, anything new in the last two weeks — medication, soap, detergent, jewellery, plants — and whether anyone else at home is affected. That last question settles scabies and the infectious rashes quickly.
Inflammation that looks red or pink on white skin frequently appears violet, grey or dark brown on deeper skin tones, and much dermatology teaching material does not show that. It is accounted for here, and good daylight photographs matter more, not less.
Assessed routinely and treated as clinical images like any other. Upload them through the secure system, and they are held under exactly the same confidentiality as the rest of your record.
This is where most skin treatment fails, and it is almost always under-application rather than the wrong product.
Do not use aqueous cream as a leave-on moisturiser. It contains a detergent that irritates and worsens itching. As a wash-off soap substitute it is fine.
Emollients soak into fabric and make clothing and bedding far more flammable, and this applies to paraffin-free products too. It has caused deaths. Do not smoke, use a naked flame, or sit close to a fire or heater while wearing emollient, and wash bedding and nightwear regularly at a high temperature.
Set expectations honestly: eczema often improves within days; acne takes six to eight weeks and frequently worsens first; fungal nail infection takes months. Judging a treatment before its time is the other common reason people conclude it failed.
Same spot, same light, once a week. Skin changes too slowly to notice day to day, and a comparison photograph is far more reliable than memory at the review appointment.
Skin is one of the few things that genuinely assesses well remotely — provided the photographs are usable. See our guide to photographing a skin problem, which makes more difference to the outcome than anything else you can control.
The clear limit is moles and pigmented lesions. Anything new, changing, growing, itching, bleeding, or asymmetric in colour or border needs seeing in person with a dermatoscope. A photograph, however good, cannot substitute for dermoscopy. We will refer you rather than reassure you from an image — and we would rather over-refer than miss a melanoma.
Also needing in-person assessment:
Go to A&E or seek same-day care for a rash that does not fade under a glass, particularly with fever or headache; rapidly spreading redness with severe pain; blistering involving the mouth, eyes or genitals; or any rash with facial swelling or difficulty breathing.
Intimate-area photographs are assessed routinely and are clinical images like any other. Upload them through the secure system rather than by email or text, and they are held under the same confidentiality as the rest of your record.
We can look, but we cannot clear it — and this is the firm limit of the service.
Assessing a pigmented lesion properly requires dermoscopy: a magnifying instrument with polarised light held against the skin, revealing structures no photograph captures. Nothing sent from a phone substitutes for it.
So anything new, changing, growing, itching, bleeding, or asymmetric in colour or border gets referred for in-person assessment rather than reassured from an image. We would far rather over-refer than miss a melanoma, and that is the correct way round.
Because distribution is half the diagnosis. Where a rash is, and where it is not, distinguishes conditions that look identical close up. Eczema in the elbow creases, psoriasis on the extensor surfaces, scabies in the finger webs — a close-up of a single patch loses all of that.
No — and this matters on brown and black skin. Inflammation frequently appears violet, grey, dark brown or simply darker than surrounding skin rather than red, and a great deal of teaching material does not show it that way.
Cellulitis, eczema and drug rashes are all missed for this reason. It is accounted for here — assessment goes on warmth, swelling, texture, distribution and change rather than on whether something looks red.
Sometimes exactly right, sometimes the worst option available. Steroid on a fungal infection suppresses the redness while the fungus spreads, producing an altered, hard-to-recognise rash — and it is a common reason a straightforward problem becomes a difficult one.
If a rash improves on steroid and flares worse every time you stop, that pattern itself suggests fungus.
Almost certainly not. Under-application is the single commonest reason skin treatment appears to fail.
Use the fingertip unit: a line of cream from the fingertip to the first crease covers an area about the size of two flat adult palms. Measured that way, most people discover they have been using a small fraction of the intended amount.
No — anything requiring a procedure needs doing in person, and we will refer you. That covers excision, biopsy, cryotherapy and cautery.
Worth knowing that removal of a lesion purely for cosmetic reasons is not usually available on the NHS, and that a mole should never be removed cosmetically without it being examined and, where appropriate, sent for histology first.
Six to eight weeks before you can fairly judge it, and it frequently gets worse in the first two. That initial flare is expected rather than a sign of failure, and it is the point at which most people give up.
Take a photograph in the same light every week. Acne improves too gradually to notice in a mirror.
999 or A&E for: a rash that does not fade when pressed with a glass, particularly with fever or headache; blistering or peeling skin, or sores in the mouth, eyes or genitals; facial swelling with difficulty breathing; or an area of skin that is rapidly spreading and painful out of proportion to how it looks.
Everything else — which is the vast majority of skin problems — can be assessed calmly, and often very well, from good photographs.
Clinically reviewed by Dr Mohammad Zubair Khan, GMC 7563469
Last reviewed
August 23, 2026
On this page
Ongoing
Time to be seen
Appointment length
Your NHS record in the room
Written treatment plan
Told when a test isn’t needed
Cost
Same day, usually
20 minutes
Yes, with your consent
Included
Yes, and told why
£40 for 20 minutes
Varies by practice
Typically 10 minutes
Yes, your full record
Not routinely
Usually
Free
Same day
Often 10 to 15 minutes
Usually not
Sometimes charged
Varies by provider
Often a subscription
Same-day access is usually available, from 6am to 10pm, seven days a week. You choose a time that suits you rather than waiting on hold at 8am.
Yes. Care is led personally by Dr Mohammad Khan, so you are not passed between clinicians. Continuity is the point of a small practice: someone who knows your history and is listening attentively rather than working through a checklist.
Yes, with your consent. We can access your Summary Care Record during the consultation, so your current medications, allergies and significant history are in the room. That means fewer questions you have already answered elsewhere, and safer prescribing.
No. We are not here to replace GPs, only to support them. Your NHS practice remains responsible for your ongoing care, and with your consent we write to them after the consultation. We are useful when you need to be seen sooner, or want more time than a standard appointment allows.
Twenty unhurried minutes and a comprehensive assessment. A written treatment plan is included, along with any prescription, sick note or referral letter arising from the consultation, at no extra charge.
£40 for 20 minutes, self-pay. Membership is optional and never required. Priced for fairness, because we are not here to charge extortionate amounts for access to a doctor.
It means the diagnosis can usually be made from your history and photographs, and that treatment can be arranged safely without examining you. Where a condition is not marked treatable online, it is because examination is the diagnosis — listening to a chest, feeling an abdomen, examining an ear or a joint — or because a procedure or device is needed.
Yes, where there is a genuine bacterial infection — cellulitis, impetigo, bacterial urine infections, confirmed strep throat. We will also frequently tell you that you do not need one. Most sore throats, coughs, colds and earaches are viral, and an antibiotic gives you the side effects with none of the benefit.
If your problem turns out to be genuinely outside what we can do remotely, the doctor will tell you straight away, point you to the right service, and refund your fee in full. We would rather do that than fill twenty minutes to justify the charge.
Call 999 or go to A&E — do not book an online appointment and do not wait for a reply to an email. For urgent problems that are not emergencies, NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, online or by phone, and can direct you to the right service.
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