diff --git a/lsmtool/skymodel.py b/lsmtool/skymodel.py
index 5bac24838b01463551a145b66c9aa35e39d6021f..2d3547be2d231990aa8e0fa92d6e548d0f9bdbcf 100644
--- a/lsmtool/skymodel.py
+++ b/lsmtool/skymodel.py
@@ -1091,7 +1091,10 @@ class SkyModel(object):
 
     def getPatchNames(self):
         """
-        Returns array of all patch names in the sky model.
+        Returns array of all patch names in the sky model, with duplicates removed.
+
+        Note: use getColValues('Patch') if you want the patch names for each source
+        in the sky model.
 
         Returns
         -------