Clinical photography & imaging.

1. When clinical photography is used

Dr Amir Waly may take clinical photographs or dermoscopic images as part of your care where they serve a clear clinical purpose. Common examples include:

• Dermoscopic images of skin lesions for diagnosis, follow-up, and comparison over time.
• Clinical photographs of a lesion or area of concern prior to biopsy or excision, so the site can be reliably located later.
• Photographs of a cosmetic area of concern at the consultation stage, for clinical reference and informed-consent discussion.

2. Purpose

Images are taken solely for the purposes of your clinical care — including diagnosis, treatment planning, monitoring of change, surgical site identification, and continuity of care with other treating practitioners. Images form part of your medical record.

3. Consent

Verbal consent is obtained before any clinical photograph is taken. You may decline at any time and your care will not be affected. For photographs that will be shared outside the practice (for example, included with a specialist referral or sent for expert opinion), written consent is obtained.

For images of intimate areas, a chaperone is offered as a matter of course. You may also request a chaperone for any other clinical examination or photograph.

4. Storage and security

Clinical images are stored within the secure electronic medical record system that holds your other clinical information. Access is restricted to Dr Waly and authorised practice staff who are involved in your care, on a need-to-know basis. Images are not stored on mobile devices except temporarily during transfer to the medical record, after which they are deleted from the device.

Image retention follows the same rules as other clinical records — typically 7 years after the last consultation, or until age 25 for minors, whichever is longer (see the Privacy Policy, section 6).

5. Access

You may request access to, or a copy of, any clinical images held on your record at any time, following the process set out in section 7 of the Privacy Policy.

6. No marketing or advertising use

Clinical photographs are never used by this practice for marketing, advertising, social media, before-and-after galleries, or any other promotional purpose. This is a deliberate policy choice consistent with section 133 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and the Medical Board of Australia’s 2023 cosmetic procedures guidelines, which restrict the use of patient imagery in the advertising of regulated health services (and specifically in cosmetic medicine).

7. Sharing with other clinicians

With your written consent, an image may be shared with another treating clinician (for example, a dermatologist, plastic surgeon, or pathologist) where doing so will assist your care. Sharing is done by secure clinical channels and the image is added to the receiving clinician’s record.

8. Withdrawal of consent and deletion

You may withdraw your consent for the retention of clinical images at any time. Where you ask for an image to be removed from your record, Dr Waly will discuss with you whether retention is required for ongoing clinical safety (for example, identifying a biopsy site for a future review). Where retention is not clinically required, the image will be removed and a note made in your record.

9. Photographs by patients

You are welcome to take photographs of your own skin, lesion, or area of concern before your appointment if you find this useful. Please do not photograph other patients, staff, or the consulting rooms without explicit permission.