State of dermatologic surgery in Turkey

In Turkey, the beginning of applications of cutaneous surgical procedures in dermatology clinics dates back to the initial periods of 1950s. In March 1953 Prof. Dr. Richard Richter was assigned as the chair of the Dermatology Clinic of Ankara University Medical Faculty and in addition electrosurgery, skin biopsy, lymphadenectomy, skin grafting procedures in burns started in this period. General surgeons worked for the leprosy hospital in connection with the dermatology clinic in the years following 1960s and they also performed the operations of dermatologic patients. The cutaneous surgical procedures performed in the dermatology clinics in Turkey up to the middle of 1980, consisted of electrosurgery, skin biopsies and cryosurgery. Starting from those years dermatologists have interested more closly in dermatologic surgery and in order to receive its training, started to go to other countries, primarly to Germany and USA. When they returned to their country, they tried to establish and develop dermatologic surgery in their clinics. Now the procedures applied widely by the dermatologists in Turkey are skin biopsy, electrosurgery, cryosurgery, chemical peeling, soft tissue augmentation, laser surgery, botulinum toxin. Large excisions, grafts, flaps, Mohs surgery, nail surgery, dermabrasion are performed mostly in dermatology clinics of some universities. The assistants in dermatology receive their basic dermatologic surgery training during the specialization period. Turkish Society for Dermatologic Surgery was established in 2003.