Photo Rounds is a new feature in The Journal of Family Practice designed to enhance your clinical diagnosis skills. Each month we will feature a medical problem commonly seen by family physicians. Many of the photographs will show conditions I personally have encountered and recorded over the past 17 years. The images will be accompanied by a clinical question, followed by an answer and a description of the diagnosis and management of the case, applying the principles of evidence-based medicine.
Your skill as a diagnostician is enhanced as your personal image bank grows and is committed to memory. Our image banks begin in medical school as we view pictures in lectures and textbooks, and they expand during our own clinical experiences. Studying and learning image patterns from any atlas—print or electronic—can enhance your expertise. Not all images, however, are retained and retrievable. Grotesque and disturbing images are retained because they are processed with strong emotional content. I contend that, in a similar way, images you photograph of patients who share their stories with you are likely to become memorable because of the highly personal context. These images will give you a wealth of material for self-instruction, teaching, and medical chart documentation.