Skin problem that could be almost dire at times (10)
I believe the answer is:
dermatitis
'skin problem' is the definition.
(dermatitis is a kind of skin problem)
'could be almost dire at times' is the wordplay.
'could be' indicates an anagram.
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'dire' with its last letter removed is 'dir'.
'dir'+'at'+'times'='dirattimes'
'dirattimes' is an anagram of 'DERMATITIS'.
'that' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for dermatitis that I've seen before include "Skin inflammation" , "Skin ailment" , "Met diarist (anag.)" , "Skin trouble" .)