Clinical conversation for preparing and framing questions.

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My Appointment Folder

A collection to fill in and take with you: your medicines, your symptom summary, your treatments so far, your questions and your notes. You fill in every field yourself — this document contains no medical recommendations.

Print these pages and take them to appointments. You can set the folder up once and then update only the front pages. If you use the symptom tracker, the figures for the symptom summary can be copied across from there.

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My Appointment Folder

This appointment

Date
Specialty
Name of the clinician
Practice or clinic
Why I am here (one sentence)

My medicines and treatments

List everything you take or apply — including anything without a prescription. You fill this in yourself; this page recommends nothing and deliberately names no products.

What I take or applyHow much, how oftenSince whenPrescribed by

My symptom summary

If you use the symptom tracker, you can copy the figures across from there.

Areas affected right now
Flares in the last four weeks
Worst pain in the last week (0–10)
Days on which work or sleep were affected
What has changed since the last appointment

Treatments and procedures so far

This overview saves you retelling the same history from memory in every specialty.

WhatWhenWhereWhat I noticed afterwards

My questions for this appointment

Mark the two most important questions so they get asked if time runs short. The specialty cards give you prompts to start from.

My care team: contacts

SpecialtyNamePhone, portal or emailResponsible for

Notes from the appointment

What was discussed, what was agreed, what is the next step and who takes it?

Before I leave

These four points often decide whether anything happens after the appointment.

  • I know what was agreed.
  • I know what happens next and roughly when.
  • I know who to contact if things get worse.
  • I know whether a report will go to my other clinicians.

Questions by specialty

Prompts to tick, grouped by specialty. Use only the section that matches your appointment — you can skip past the rest. These are conversation prompts, not recommendations.

Dermatologist

  • What is the goal of my current treatment?
  • How would we recognise that it is working — and when will we review that together?
  • Which parts of my care do you handle here, and which sit with someone else?
  • Would it make sense to involve another member of the care team at this point?
  • What should I do, and who should I contact, if things get worse between appointments?

General practitioner / primary care physician

  • Do you have what the other clinicians last wrote about me?
  • Who should I contact first when a flare is hard to manage?
  • Which general health checks do you consider useful with a chronic inflammatory condition?
  • Could we discuss whether involving another specialty would be helpful for me?
  • How do I reach the practice when something cannot wait?

Surgeon (general, visceral or plastic surgery)

  • What is the aim of the proposed procedure — and what would it not change?
  • Which area exactly would it cover?
  • What recovery should I expect: healing time, time off, restrictions?
  • Who cares for the wound afterwards, and for how long?
  • How does the procedure fit with my ongoing medical treatment — and who coordinates that?
  • What happens if HS becomes active in a different area?

Wound-care specialist or nurse

  • Does my current routine make sense for this body area?
  • How often would you change a dressing here?
  • How can I protect the skin around the wound?
  • What should prompt me to get in touch sooner?
  • Who is my contact between appointments?

Pain specialist or pain service

  • What type of pain do you see here?
  • Which approaches could be considered alongside my HS treatment?
  • What would we measure to know whether something is helping?
  • Who coordinates this with my dermatology treatment?
  • What do I do during an acute peak in pain?

Gynaecologist (where relevant)

  • Could the symptoms in this area be something other than HS as well?
  • How do my HS and this area affect each other?
  • If I am considering pregnancy: who should coordinate with whom, and from when?
  • May I ask you and my dermatology team to write to each other?

Mental health professional

  • What kind of support could be considered for this, and over what period does it usually run?
  • How do we work with the fact that flares are unpredictable?
  • Would it help if you and my dermatology team were in contact?
  • What do I do in the time before it starts?

Dietitian (where appropriate)

  • Does what I am currently doing look nutritionally sustainable?
  • What does the evidence in HS actually support — and what does it not?
  • Which single change would be worth trying first, and how would we tell whether it helps?
  • How long should we observe something before judging it?

Smoking-cessation services

  • Which support options are available to me here?
  • What has worked for people in similar situations?
  • What happens if I slip — do I lose my place in the programme?
  • How long does the service stay with me?

This folder collects only your own entries and your own discussion topics. It contains no medical advice, no statements about individual medicines, and does not replace a professional assessment.

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Scientific research and editorial review

Last editorially reviewed: · Next scheduled review:

International guidance and consensus work describe HS as a chronic, systemically relevant disease whose care may — depending on the person — involve several specialties. Which ones is well documented; how the collaboration is organised differs substantially between countries, regions and individual services.

This page therefore describes roles and preparation, not referral rules. It contains no criteria for when a referral should happen, no self-assessment, and no statements about individual medicines — those decisions belong in the conversation with your care team.

The content is sourced and reviewed on a schedule. If a cited guideline or consensus statement changes, the page is updated.

How we work: Editorial Policy

My HS Home Your appointment questions, saved tools and more in one place — no account needed. HS Specialist Directory Find providers with an HS focus — filterable by services and care setting. Symptom Tracker Log flares, pain and affected areas — the figures for your symptom summary. Prepare for an HS Treatment Conversation A neutral tool for ordering your priorities and questions before a treatment discussion. HS Wound Care & Dressing Guide Situation-based help with drainage, dressings and protecting the surrounding skin. HS at Work Record how HS affects your working day and prepare conversations with your care team or employer. HS, Pregnancy & Family Planning What should be coordinated before, during and after a pregnancy — and by whom. Clinical Trials for Hidradenitis Suppurativa Understand HS research and find recruiting study locations. Your First 30 Days A guided programme for the weeks after a diagnosis. Ask the HS Community Moderated answers to questions other people with HS have asked.

Sources

  1. Directory of providers with an HS focus Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation — shows how central access to experienced providers is
  2. Wound-care providers with experience in HS Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation — wound care as a distinct part of care
  3. Hidradenitis suppurativa: Diagnosis and treatment American Academy of Dermatology — emphasises early specialist involvement and coordinated care
  4. Improving hidradenitis suppurativa management: consensus statements from physicians' and patients' perspectives Archives of Dermatological Research, 2024 — describes multidisciplinary care and gaps in coordination
  5. A practical guide for primary care providers on timely diagnosis and comprehensive care strategies for HS The American Journal of Medicine, 2022 — the role of primary care and how the specialties interact
  6. European S2k guideline for hidradenitis suppurativa / acne inversa, part 2: treatment Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, 2025 — situates the specialties involved
  7. Hidradenitis suppurativa — patient information MedlinePlus (U.S. National Library of Medicine) — foundational information that does not map the care pathway