Sustainable Dermatology Practices Could Reduce Healthcare Emissions

THE ENVIRONMENTAL impact of dermatology is gaining attention as healthcare professionals explore sustainable approaches to reduce emissions, waste, and resource consumption across clinical practice.

Environmental Impact of Dermatology Highlights Need for Sustainable Care

Healthcare contributes substantially to global greenhouse gas emissions, with resource-intensive services, supply chains, travel, facilities, medications, and medical procedures contributing to its environmental footprint. Dermatology has unique sustainability challenges due to its wide range of activities, including topical therapies, procedural treatments, dermatopathology, and the use of biologic therapies.

A review examining the environmental impact of dermatology highlighted that outpatient dermatology practices may generate significant greenhouse gas emissions, with purchased goods and services representing the largest proportion of emissions. The authors reported that emissions associated with a U.S. academic dermatology outpatient clinic were primarily linked to indirect sources, including supply chains and services.

Dermatology Practices Face Unique Sustainability Challenges

The widespread use of topical formulations, including medical ointments, sunscreens, and cosmeceuticals, represents a specific area of concern within dermatology. Components of these products, packaging materials, and poorly biodegradable ingredients may contribute to environmental pressures through waste streams and ecosystem impacts.

Procedural dermatology may also require further evaluation, as the environmental consequences of treatments such as laser procedures, microneedling, and platelet-rich plasma therapies remain insufficiently studied.

Moving Toward Sustainable Dermatology Care

The review emphasized that sustainability strategies can involve both climate adaptation and mitigation. Adaptation approaches include preparing healthcare systems for climate-related challenges, while mitigation focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions through changes in healthcare delivery.

Potential actions within dermatology include improving waste management, optimizing resource use, reducing unnecessary care, and incorporating sustainability considerations into clinical workflows. Teledermatology may also support sustainability goals by reducing transportation-related emissions when appropriate for patient care.

Several dermatology organizations have established sustainability-focused working groups to support education, research, advocacy, and implementation of environmentally conscious practices. These initiatives aim to provide resources for dermatologists while encouraging broader integration of sustainability into dermatological care.

The authors concluded that further collaboration, education, and policy development will be required to embed sustainable practices across dermatology. Greater awareness of the environmental impact of dermatology may help clinicians identify opportunities to reduce emissions while maintaining high-quality patient care.

Reference
Niebel D et al. Environmental Impact of Dermatology and Action Towards It: A Narrative Review. Int J Dermatol. 2025;64(8):1388–1400. doi:10.1111/ijd.17810.

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