Dr. Brown, a dermatologist, is seeing a patient for an acne surgery follow-up that was performed eight months ago. The surgery was successful and the patient’s skin condition has rapidly improved due to a strict hygiene regimen and acne medications. Today the patient stated that he would like to reduce acne scarring by having dermabrasion on his entire face. Although the patient requested the entire face, the dermatologist only performed the dermabrasion on the areas on the patient’s face that were not currently prone to acne breakouts (his forehead and brow area). What is the correct code for this procedure?
Explanation
Answer: A - The correct code for this procedure is 15781(Dermabrasion; Segmental, Face). Code 15780 is not appropriate because it refers to the total face, which in this case, did not apply because the dermatologist only performed the procedure on certain parts of the patient’s face. Code 15786 is inappropriate because it refers to an abrasion of a lesion, rather than dermabrasion. Code 15788 is also inappropriate because it refers to a chemical peel, not dermabrasion.
