- What This Credential Actually Is
- The Four Core Eligibility Requirements
- Fellowship Details: One Year, the 80% Rule, and What Counts
- The 15 Curriculum Headings Your Fellowship Must Cover
- Disease and Procedure Topics You Are Expected to Master
- Application, Fee, and Exam-Day Mechanics
- Timeline Planning and the Five-Year Eligibility Window
- Staying Certified After You Pass
- Who Hires Certified Pediatric Dermatologists
- Matching Your Preparation to the Fellowship Domains
- Frequently Asked Questions
- You need primary ABD dermatology certification plus at least one year of ACGME-accredited pediatric dermatology fellowship to sit for the subspecialty exam.
- An unrestricted US or Canadian medical or osteopathic license is required.
- Candidates without a prior postgraduate pediatric residency year must devote at least 80% of fellowship time to clinical pursuits.
- The exam is 200 multiple-choice questions over roughly four hours at Pearson VUE, with a USD 1,800 fee.
What This Credential Actually Is
Pediatric Dermatology certification, as covered on this page, is the American Board of Dermatology (ABD) Pediatric Dermatology subspecialty certification. It is a separate credential from your primary dermatology certification. It is not the pediatric content that appears on the general dermatology CORE examination, it is not an osteopathic (AOBD) certificate, and it is not the continuing-certification assessment you complete after earning a certificate.
That distinction matters when you read requirements online. Sources about general dermatology boards, pediatrics boards, or other credentials sharing similar naming can describe entirely different eligibility paths, fees, and dates. Everything below comes from the ABD's pediatric dermatology fellowship-training and exam pages. If you are still orienting yourself to the field itself, our primer on what Pediatric Dermatology certification is covers the basics before you dive into eligibility.
The Four Core Eligibility Requirements
To qualify for the subspecialty examination, you need to satisfy each of the following:
- An unrestricted license. You must hold an unrestricted US or Canadian medical or osteopathic license. A restricted, conditional, or suspended license is a barrier.
- Primary ABD dermatology certification. The subspecialty sits on top of general dermatology. You must already be certified by the ABD in dermatology.
- Fellowship training. You must complete at least one year of ACGME-accredited pediatric dermatology fellowship, taken after your general dermatology training.
- A clinically weighted fellowship year. For candidates without a prior postgraduate pediatric residency year, at least 80% of the fellowship must be devoted to clinical pursuits.
| Requirement | What the ABD expects | Common pitfall |
|---|---|---|
| License | Unrestricted US/Canadian medical or osteopathic license | Assuming a training license is enough |
| Primary certification | ABD dermatology certification | Treating fellowship as a substitute for the primary certificate |
| Fellowship length | At least one year, ACGME-accredited | Counting non-accredited or non-fellowship pediatric experience |
| Clinical time | At least 80% clinical for candidates without a prior postgraduate pediatric residency year | Overloading the year with research and losing clinical balance |
Fellowship Details: One Year, the 80% Rule, and What Counts
The one-year minimum
The ABD sets one year of ACGME-accredited pediatric dermatology fellowship as the floor. The fellowship must follow your general dermatology training, not run concurrently with it. Programs vary in how they structure the year, but the board's requirement is about accredited training time, not a particular rotation schedule.
The 80% clinical rule
If you have not completed a postgraduate pediatric residency year, at least 80% of your fellowship time must be devoted to clinical pursuits. In practical terms, this limits how much of the year can go to bench research, extended elective time, or administrative work. If you are interested in a research-heavy career, discuss with program directors early how the fellowship calendar will protect that clinical majority. Our overview of Pediatric Dermatology training goes deeper on what the year typically looks like.
Key Takeaway
Before accepting a fellowship position, ask the program director how the 80% clinical threshold is documented and how the program tracks it. Requirements are easiest to satisfy when the program built the schedule around them from day one.
The 15 Curriculum Headings Your Fellowship Must Cover
The ABD publishes a fellowship curriculum for Pediatric Dermatology made up of eight Clinical Core Curriculum headings and seven Didactic Curriculum headings. These 15 headings describe what your training should expose you to. They are preparation-curriculum topics, not weighted exam domains, and the ABD has not published them as initial-exam objectives or guaranteed them as an exhaustive map of what the test covers. For a deeper walk-through, see our complete guide to all 15 content areas.
Clinical Core Curriculum (eight headings)
These describe the patient-care and practice experiences the fellowship should provide.
- Outpatient Experience: the backbone of the year, covering a broad range of pediatric skin disease in clinic.
- Continuity Experience: following patients over time, especially those with chronic or evolving conditions.
- Consultation: inpatient and cross-specialty consults, where diagnostic reasoning is tested.
- Departmental, Office Administration, and Systems of Care: the operational side of running a pediatric dermatology practice.
- Telephone Inquiries: triage and advice delivered without a visit.
- Community Based Consultation: outreach and consultation outside the academic center.
- Pediatric Dermatologic Surgery: procedural skills in children, including excision and related techniques.
- Laser Surgery: laser therapy applications, notably in vascular and pigmented lesions.
Didactic Curriculum (seven headings)
These describe the academic and scholarly components.
- Pediatrics: grounding in general pediatric medicine and development.
- General Dermatology: maintaining breadth beyond the pediatric subspecialty.
- Dermatopathology: pattern recognition in pediatric skin biopsies.
- Pediatric Dermatology: the subspecialty's core disease content.
- Educational Contributions by the Fellow: teaching and presenting during the year.
- Photography: clinical documentation skills.
- Basic and Clinical Research: scholarly engagement during training.
One useful insight: nearly half of these headings are about how you work, not what you diagnose. Telephone Inquiries, Community Based Consultation, Systems of Care, and Photography are not disease categories. A fellowship that only gives you a busy clinic may leave gaps in these areas, so ask programs how each heading is actually delivered.
Disease and Procedure Topics You Are Expected to Master
Beyond the 15 headings, the ABD explicitly lists disease and diagnostic topics within the curriculum. Treat this as a checklist for your fellowship year and your exam preparation.
Disease topics expressly listed
- All forms of dermatitis
- Papulosquamous diseases
- Bullous diseases
- Viral, bacterial, and fungal skin infections
- Skin infestations
- Drug reactions
- Genodermatoses
- Developmental anomalies
- Neonatal skin disorders
- Disorders of cornification
- Hair and nail disorders
- Acne
- Skin malignancies
- Connective tissue diseases
- Granulomatous diseases
- Vascular anomalies
- Melanocytic lesions
- Psychocutaneous disease
- Child abuse
- Skin signs of systemic disease
- Photosensitivity disease
Diagnostic and procedural topics expressly listed
- Skin biopsy techniques
- Potassium hydroxide (KOH) examinations
- Tzanck examinations
- Mineral oil examinations
- Hair mounts
- Fungal cultures
- Curettage and electrodesiccation
- Cryotherapy
- Laser therapy
- Surgical excisions
A few of these areas deserve extra attention because they blend medicine with judgment. Child abuse recognition, psychocutaneous disease, and neonatal skin disorders often require integrating skin findings with social, developmental, or systemic context. Vascular anomalies and melanocytic lesions combine classification systems with management decisions, including when laser or surgical therapy is appropriate. For rapid review of the highest-yield facts, our one-page Pediatric Dermatology cheat sheet is a useful companion.
Application, Fee, and Exam-Day Mechanics
Exam format
The Pediatric Dermatology Subspecialty Certification Exam consists of 200 multiple-choice questions over approximately four hours, delivered at Pearson VUE test centers. The ABD has not published a passing score for the initial exam that we could verify, so treat any specific cutoff you see quoted online with caution. We explain this in more depth in our guide to the Pediatric Dermatology passing score.
Fee
The examination fee is USD 1,800. For a fuller picture of related costs, see our certification cost breakdown.
2026 dates
The 2026 examination is scheduled for October 15, 2026. The application deadline was June 1, 2026, so as of this writing (research checked October 14, 2026) the 2026 application window is closed. If you missed it, your realistic target is the next annual administration. Our exam dates and scheduling guide covers how to plan around future cycles.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Issuer | American Board of Dermatology (ABD) |
| Format | 200 multiple-choice questions, approximately 4 hours |
| Delivery | Pearson VUE test centers |
| Fee | USD 1,800 |
| 2026 exam date | October 15, 2026 |
| 2026 application deadline | June 1, 2026 (passed) |
Reported outcomes
The ABD reports a 94% first-time pass rate for 2025, with 18 candidates. The 2025 Year in Review also reports 18 candidates for the October 14, 2025 administration. The 2024 cohort needs careful reading: the 2024 Year in Review reports 23 total candidates and a 100% first-time pass rate, while the live first-time-results table lists 22 candidates for 2024. Those are different counts from different sources, and the 23 total should not be treated as the first-time denominator. The cohorts are small, so a single result can move the percentage noticeably. See our pass rate analysis and difficulty guide for context.
Timeline Planning and the Five-Year Eligibility Window
Board eligibility normally extends five years after fellowship. That window gives you flexibility, but it is not a reason to delay. Fellowship knowledge is freshest immediately afterward, and a first attempt close to completion typically benefits from recent clinical exposure to the full range of curriculum topics.
Confirm your foundations
- Verify primary ABD dermatology certification status.
- Confirm your license is unrestricted and current.
- Verify the program's ACGME accreditation.
Document and diversify
- Track that clinical time meets the 80% threshold if it applies to you.
- Seek exposure to each of the 15 curriculum headings, especially the operational ones.
- Log procedures: biopsies, cryotherapy, excisions, and laser sessions.
Apply and prepare
- Watch the annual ABD application deadline, which for 2026 fell on June 1.
- Plan the exam within the five-year eligibility window, ideally sooner.
Staying Certified After You Pass
Older ABD pages still describe a ten-year certificate with additional subspecialty CertLink modules. The ABD's explicit 2026 Verification for Credentialers policy supersedes that: certification is continuous, without end dates, conditional on continuing-certification participation. Here is what maintaining it involves:
- Maintain your primary dermatology certification.
- Maintain an unrestricted US or Canadian license.
- Participate in CertLink, which presents 13 new questions per quarter, with one quarterly sabbatical per year and no extra subspecialty question requirement.
- Complete one practice-improvement activity every five years.
- Pay the USD 150 annual fee, which covers all ABD certificates.
The five-year assessment cycle evaluates performance after four years, with the fifth year used as a holiday or catch-up year depending on results. It is an assessment cycle, not a certificate expiration term. Beginning January 2026, separate CME totals no longer need to be reported to ABD, though state or other CME obligations remain your responsibility. Importantly, do not confuse any CertLink threshold with an initial-exam passing score; they are unrelated.
Who Hires Certified Pediatric Dermatologists
Pediatric dermatologists typically work in academic medical centers, children's hospitals with dermatology divisions, and multispecialty or private practices that serve pediatric populations. The Clinical Core headings, such as Consultation, Community Based Consultation, and Systems of Care, map closely to the realities of these jobs: inpatient consults, outreach clinics, and running a service line. See our overview of Pediatric Dermatology jobs for more on employer types.
On compensation, one data point is available: the Society for Pediatric Dermatology 2025 Pediatric Dermatology Physician Compensation Report (dated October 14, 2025, Table 9.1) reports a median base compensation of USD 342,500 for its full-time new-hire subgroup of 22 respondents. That is a narrow subgroup, not a national figure for all pediatric dermatologists, and it does not isolate the effect of certification. For fuller context, read our salary guide and our ROI analysis.
Matching Your Preparation to the Fellowship Domains
Because the 15 headings are unweighted curriculum topics rather than published exam weights, avoid over-investing in any single heading based on an assumed percentage. Instead, sequence your preparation so that rarely-seen areas get dedicated time.
Suggested scheduling logic
Use your weakest exposure during fellowship as the guide.
- Start with Dermatopathology and General Dermatology, since you can review these alongside pediatric content.
- Move to the high-volume disease clusters: dermatitis, infections, genodermatoses, neonatal disorders.
- Reserve a block for vascular anomalies, melanocytic lesions, and laser applications, which combine classification and management reasoning.
- Finish with procedural and diagnostic techniques (KOH, Tzanck, mineral oil, hair mounts, fungal cultures) and the integrative topics like child abuse and psychocutaneous disease.
When you are ready to move from reading to retrieval, pair this plan with our Pediatric Dermatology study guide and test yourself on the Pediatric Dermatology practice test site. Questions in multiple-choice format reward the clinical-reasoning habits you build during fellowship, so practicing under timed conditions is worth including in your final weeks.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Primary ABD dermatology certification is a core eligibility requirement. The subspecialty builds on it, and you must also hold an unrestricted US or Canadian medical or osteopathic license and complete at least one year of ACGME-accredited pediatric dermatology fellowship.
At least one year of ACGME-accredited pediatric dermatology fellowship, completed after general dermatology training. For candidates without a prior postgraduate pediatric residency year, at least 80% of the fellowship time must be devoted to clinical pursuits.
No. The 2026 application deadline was June 1, 2026, and the 2026 exam is on October 15, 2026. If you missed this cycle, plan for a future administration, keeping in mind that board eligibility normally extends five years after fellowship.
It is 200 multiple-choice questions over approximately four hours at Pearson VUE test centers. The examination fee is USD 1,800. No initial-exam passing-score threshold has been verified, so be cautious about cutoffs quoted elsewhere.
Not under the ABD's current 2026 policy. Certification is continuous without end dates, provided you keep participating in continuing certification: maintaining primary dermatology certification and an unrestricted license, participating in CertLink, completing a practice-improvement activity every five years, and paying the USD 150 annual fee.