COVID-19 pandemic and dermatoethics

The world health organization characterized the outbreak ofthe coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19), caused by the severeacute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (sars-cov-2), as apandemic on march 11, 2020. according to official reports, over12,300,000 individuals have caught the disease globally over thepast six months. like many other professions, the disease hasaffected private and academic dermatology practices around theworld. the disease has diverse and extensive skin manifestationswith implications for dermatology education and research.some other issues that may concern dermatologists during thepandemic include ethics pertaining to the optimal use of scarceresources like certain drugs and personal protective equipmentas well as surcharging patients and the potential of increasingthe size of the preexisting health inequity gap. consideringall these issues, discussing the ethical aspects of dermatology,i.e., dermatoethics, during this pandemic is critical. herein, wereview the four basic biomedical ethics principles of autonomy,beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice in the context of thecovid-19 pandemic.