The Color Atlas and Synopsis of Clinical Dermatology is proposed as a "field guide" to the recognition of skin disorders and their management. The skin is a treasury of important lesions that can usually be recognized clinically. Gross morphology in the form of skin lesions remains the hard core of dermatologic diagnosis, and therefore this text is accompanied by 857 color photographs illustrating skin diseases, skin manifestations of internal diseases, infections, tumors, and incidental skin findings in otherwise-well individuals. We have endeavored to include information relevant to gender dermatology and a large number of images showing skin disease in different ethnic populations. This Atlas covers the entire field of clinical dermatology but does not include very rare syndromes or conditions. With respect to these the reader is referred to another McGraw-Hill Publication: Dermatology in General Medicine, 6th ed., 2003, edited by IM Freedberg et al.

This text is intended for all physicians and other health care providers, including medical students, dermatology residents, internists, oncologists, and infectious disease specialists dealing with diseases with skin manifestations. For non-dermatologists, it is advisable to start with "Approach to Dermatologic Diagnosis" and "Outline of Dermatologic Diagnosis," below, to familiarize themselves with the principles of dermatologic nomenclature and lines of thought.

The Atlas is organized in 4 Parts, subdivided into 33 Sections, and there are 3 short Appendices. Each section has a color label that is reflected by the bar on the top of each page. This is to help the reader to find his or her bearings rapidly when leafing through the book. Also, the first page of each section carries an "icon," i.e., a small photograph of a condition that is representative for that particular section.