What Is the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Website?

aad.org is the official website of the American Academy of Dermatology, which describes itself as the largest, most influential, and representative dermatology group in the United States. The site serves two distinct audiences through separate entry points: AAD members and professionals on one side, and patients and the general public on the other. If you are looking for information about skin, hair, or nail conditions, or want to understand what a board-certified dermatologist does, the patient-facing section is the place to start. If you are a dermatology professional seeking membership, meetings, education, or practice resources, the member section is the relevant one.

What the AAD is

The AAD presents itself as the largest and most representative dermatology organization in the United States. Its homepage frames the organization around three broad areas of activity:

• Advocacy — the site highlights a campaign called "Save Skin Cancer Care," which opposes a Medicare proposal that the AAD says threatens local care and early detection of skin cancer.
• Professional resources — membership, AAD meetings, education, practice management, publications, and clinical care.
• Public education — information about dermatologists and the conditions they treat.

The advocacy message on the homepage is a useful signal of the organization's role: it acts not only as an educational body but also as a policy voice for dermatology in the U.S.

Two audiences, two paths

The homepage explicitly separates its content into two tracks, each with its own "remember my selection" option so returning visitors land in the right place.

For patients and the public

The patient-facing content centers on a clear claim: board-certified dermatologists are the only physicians with advanced medical training to diagnose and treat conditions of the skin, hair, and nails. From there, the site directs visitors to learn more about dermatologists and the conditions they treat. This makes aad.org a reasonable starting point if you want to understand what a dermatologist does or which conditions fall under their expertise before seeking care.

For members and professionals

The professional side aggregates resources across membership, meetings, education, practice management, publications, and clinical care. The homepage does not detail pricing, eligibility requirements, or registration steps for any of these, so specific membership terms and meeting logistics would need to be checked on the relevant subpages rather than inferred from the landing page.

How to use the site

1. Decide which audience you belong to. The homepage asks you to choose between the member/professional track and the patient/public track, and offers to remember your selection.
2. Follow the matching entry point. Patients should head toward the dermatologist and conditions content; professionals toward membership, meetings, and education.
3. Expect to go deeper for specifics. The landing page is a gateway — details such as membership criteria, meeting schedules, or publication access live on the linked resource pages, not in the homepage text.

A practical example: if you have a question about a hair or nail condition and want to know whether it falls within a dermatologist's scope, the patient section's "conditions we treat" content is the direct route. If you are a resident considering AAD membership, the professional section is where the membership resources begin.

What the homepage does not tell you

The available page content does not state membership fees, conference prices, or whether any resources require login or payment. Those details should be confirmed on the specific pages for membership, meetings, and publications rather than assumed. The homepage also does not list individual conditions or dermatologist directories — it points to them.

Bottom line

aad.org is the public face of the largest U.S. dermatology organization, split cleanly between professional resources and public education. Use the patient track to learn about dermatologists and the conditions they treat, and the member track for membership, meetings, education, and practice resources — then follow the links for the specifics the landing page leaves out.