Forty years ago in 1983, the first edition of this book appeared and has been expanded pari passu with the major developments that have occurred in dermatology over the past four decades. Dermatology is now one of the most sought-after medical specialties because the burden of skin disease has become enormous and the many new innovative therapies available today attract large patient populations.

The Color Atlas and Synopsis of Clinical Dermatology has been used by thousands of primary care physicians, dermatology residents, dermatologists, internists, and other health care providers principally because it facilitates dermatologic diagnosis by providing color photographs of skin lesions and, juxtaposed, a succinct summary outline of skin disorders as well as the skin signs of systemic diseases. It can be used as a clinical companion, as a way to look up specific information or as a way to test oneself in the important features of the clinical examination. We invite you to open our atlas to random pages, cover up the figure legend, and to try and describe the findings you see while making a diagnosis. No clinical resource, however, could replace the teachings of the skin of our patients. Even amidst the wild changes that have occurred in therapy, the subtleties and intricacies of the skin examination, continue to fascinate us with new lessons each day.

The ninth edition has been extensively revised and expanded by new material. There is a complete update of etiology, pathogenesis, management, and therapy. There is also an online version. For this edition, videos containing clinical material relevant to the text are available at: mhprofessional.com/FitzpatricksColorAtlas9e, under the Downloads & Resources tab.