Dr Victoria Swale is a highly experienced consultant dermatologist. She has expertise in a wide range of skin, hair and nail conditions, with a specialist interest in genital skin conditions such as lichen sclerosus, seborrhoeic dermatitis, itch and lichen planus. She also has a strong interest in skin cancer, moles and lesion diagnosis, incorporating dermoscopy and mole mapping into her practice. Dr Swale sees adults and children of all ages with a collaborative and compassionate approach, aiming to empower her patients to understand their conditions and maximise quality of life.
Dr Swale has been a Consultant Dermatologist at the Royal Free London NHS Trust since 2004. She is a core member of the specialist skin cancer multidisciplinary team. She was also a locum Consultant Dermatopathologist at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust from 2006-2023. Dr Swale set up the ongoing Dermatology Clinicopathological conference meetings at the Royal Free in 2004.
In 2004, she was awarded an MD from the University of London for her research into genetic aspects of skin cancer. The work was published in several peer-reviewed journals.
Dr Swale is currently Honorary Secretary for the British Association of Dermatologists. She is a former member of The British Association of Dermatologists’ Therapy and Guidelines Committee.
Dr Swale is a former council member for the British Society for the Study of Vulval Diseases and the British Society for Dermatopathology Executive Committee.
She has served on the Examination Board for Dermatology for the Royal College of Physicians since 2019, having been a member of the Speciality Question Writing Group for the Royal College of Physicians from 2006-2019.
Dr Swale qualified from the University of Southampton Medical School in 1992, achieved Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) in 1995, and was elected to Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 2008. She holds the International Certificate for Dermatopathology.
Dr Swale lectures and teaches nationally in Dermatology and Dermatopathology.
BM 1992 (University of Southampton Medical School)
MRCP (UK) 1995
MD 2004 (University of London)
ICDP (International Certificate of Dermatopathology) 2005
FRCP 2009
Dr Victoria Swale has achieved multiple publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Key Publications:
Almadori A, Zenner N, Boyle D, Swale V, Reid W, Maclean A, Butler PEMDevelopment and Validation of a Clinical Grading Scale to Assess the Vulvar Region: The Vulvar Architecture Severity Scale. Aesthet Surg J. 2020 Nov 19;40(12):1319-1326
Almadori A, Hansen E, Boyle D, Zenner N, Swale V, Reid W, Maclane A, Butler PEM. Fat Grafting Improves Fibrosis and Scarring in Vulvar Lichen Sclerosus: Results From a Prospective Cohort Study. J Low Genit Tract Dis. 2020 Mar 19
F Bakr, N Webber, H Fassihi, V Swale, F Lewis, E Rytina, G Tamar Ben-Zvi, P Norris, O Espinosa, S Dhar, P Craig and A Robson. Primary and secondary intralymphatic histiocytosis. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2014; 70 (5): 927-933
Rice SA, Swale VJ, Haque R, Rustin MH. Erythroderma in the emergency department. BMJ 2013 Jun 13;346:f3613
Goulding JM, Levine S, Blizard RA, Deroide F, Swale VJ. Dermatological surgery: a comparison of activity and outcomes in primary and secondary care. Br J Dermatol. 2009 Jul;161(1):110-4. Epub 2009 May 12
Harwood CA, McGregor JM, Swale VJ, Proby CM, Leigh IM, Newton R, Khorshid SM, Cerio R. High frequency and diversity of cutaneous appendageal tumors in organ transplant recipients. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2003 Mar;48(3):401-8.
Harwood CA, Swale VJ, Bataille VA, Quinn AG, Ghali L, Patel SV, Dove-Edwin I, Cerio R, McGregor JM. An association between sebaceous carcinoma and microsatellite instability in immunosuppressed organ transplant recipients. J Invest Dermatol. 2001 Feb;116(2):246-53.
Swale VJ, Quinn AG, Wheeler JM, Beck NE, Dove-Edwin I, Thomas HJ, Bodmer WF, Bataille VA. Microsatellite instability in benign skin lesions in hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer syndrome. J Invest Dermatol. 1999 Dec;113(6):901-5
British Association of Dermatologists
Royal Society of Medicine
British Society for Dermatopathology
British Society for the Study of Vulval Disease
American Academy of Dermatology
Clinical excellence award level 2, Royal Free Hospital
Senior Registrars’ prize, Section of Dermatology, Royal Society of Medicine
BAD/Stiefel Travel Award for AAD Conference, San Francisco
BAD/Schering-Plough Travel Award, SID Conference, Chicago
Southampton University Dermatology Prize
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