Veterinary dermatologists specialize in allergies and diseases of the skin, hair, nails and ears. Routine services include complete dermatologic examination, cytologic evaluations, skin scrapings, hair examinations, and fungal or bacterial cultures. Advanced diagnostics include intradermal allergy testing, skin and nail biopsies, and histopathology.
Diseases Treated
- Allergies
- Skin infections
- Ear infections
- Diseases of the feet and foot pads
- Parasites
- Hormonal problems
- Immune-mediated disorders (diseases caused when a pet’s immune system attacks important structures in the skin)
- Hereditary (transmitted from parent to offspring) and congenital conditions (present from birth)
- Keratinization disorders (disorders characterized by scaly, flaky skin)
- Skin cancer
- Idiopathic disorders (arising from an obscure or unknown cause)
Services
By taking a tiny section of affected skin from your pet, we can process and observe the skin on a microscopic level to help determine what type of skin disease your pet has.
Cultures may be needed when infectious diseases are suspected. Culturing the skin or discharge from the skin enables us to grow the organism in the lab and determine which antimicrobial treatments will work best.
This entails taking samples from the outer layers of the skin, applying a special stain and inspecting these samples under the microscope for infections, inflammatory cells, tumor cells, etc.
Lab tests can help identify problems with internal organ systems, check antibody levels against certain infections and monitor for possible side effects to medications.
This quick procedure entails using a dull blade and mineral oil to gently scrape the surface of the skin and collect a sample. The sample is then placed on a microscope to look for mites that live on the skin or in the hair follicles.
