118 Iranian Journal of Dermatology © 2008 Iranian Society of Dermatology

In many ways, medicine, and specifically dermatology, is practiced in much the same manner today as in centuries ago, but more recently, dermatologists have been facing enormous changes in the way they perform their profession and much of this is a result of a fundamental change in the manner in which information is exchanged through information technology. With the advent of more advanced telecommunications, imaging capabilities, information transfer, and management options, dermatology, as with many medical fields, is facing new opportunities and challenges. Therefore, the need for integration of new events throughout information technology seems to be necessary. This article determines the effects of health information technology (HIT) on mainly two important aspects: quality and efficiency, and indicates that HIT system substantially improves health care quality and efficiency. This article also identifies advanced types of these information systems in dermatology field. There are challenges to HIT’s adoption and unfortunately, in opposite to the developed countries, investing in technologic affairs mostly has been neglected in the developing countries. Therefore, we have suggested some recommendations for the improvement of these information systems. (Iran