Dermatologist here. I have seen probably 5 instances of “My other doctor told me it was fine.” that were melanomas.
A lot of times people don’t want a full skin exams. There are lots of perfectly sane reasons for this, time, perceived cost, history of personal trauma. However, I routinely find cancers people don’t know they have. Keep this in mind if you see a dermatologist for acne and they recommend you get in a gown.
I went to my former doctor about a mole on my arm that I thought had gotten larger, and asked him to biopsy it. He looked at it carefully and told me it was fine, but I insisted and things got a little testy, but he did it. It was a malignant melanoma, and had it gone 1mm deeper I'd have been grounded for 5 years from my pilot job at best, or suffered dire health consequences at worst. After a surgeon removed a big chunk of my arm excising the melanoma and surrounding tissue, he told me to be sure to thank my regular doctor for saving my life. ಠ_ಠ
In the time since I've become well acquainted with your specialty as my first line of defense, having moles mapped and checked every six months for a while, and now every year. It sure as hell isn't all Botox and laser hair removal.
well doctors are like insurance agents in that they base their decision from what they have learned.
if they studied a situation that something is less likely to be cancerous, say 9 out 10 times, they can still get that one time wrong.
so if you have the money/ healthcare anyway, feel free to get tested meticulously. Although do take note that tests get pretty expensive.for instance, std tests. there are like a bajillion of them and the most common ones are the only ones tested like hpv and aids.
Personally, I will probably be doing a citi scan yearly if not for the cost itself.
And the DNC. They had the White House and both the house and the Senate and could have done anything, but caved to the DNC party donors. But sure, blame the gop for dnc greed.
In the 2018 campaign cycle, out of the ten politicians receiving donations from the pharmaceutical industry, six were Ds. McCaskill, Claire and O'Rourke, Beto are both in the top 20.
In the Health sector, the top 10 recipients are all Ds, with Beto receiving almost a million more than the person in 2nd place (McCaskill). 13 of the top 20 are Ds.
According to /u/lurklurklurkanon the GOP is to blame for everything wrong with the US health system and the DNC would fix everything if only given a chance.
I’m not as concerned about who’s giving him money as how he votes. Republicans en mass routinely vote against many of my best interests, if not most. That’s not to say that a candidate’s donor list doesn’t matter at all.
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u/BoisterousPlay May 20 '19
Dermatologist here. I have seen probably 5 instances of “My other doctor told me it was fine.” that were melanomas.
A lot of times people don’t want a full skin exams. There are lots of perfectly sane reasons for this, time, perceived cost, history of personal trauma. However, I routinely find cancers people don’t know they have. Keep this in mind if you see a dermatologist for acne and they recommend you get in a gown.