I'd been going to this one derm for probably 4 years. I put up with his lack of personality, grumpiness and bad hygiene, thinking well, he's covered under my insurance and as long as I get my prescriptions, who cares?
He would make me go every 4 weeks even though there was little change in my skin month to month, I wasn't on accutane, and my acne wasn't severe. Every time I'd go he'd look at my skin, pick a few blackheads, and tell me I still needed the medication.
I told him over and over that it was really hard for me to make it that often because of work. Nope, didn't care. I asked if I could come every 8 weeks instead. Nope, every 4 weeks. I'm convinced it was just to make the quick buck off of my insurance -- the more visits, the more he gets paid -- but anyway....
I went the other day. I had cancelled a few appts and hadn't been in a few months. Maybe 3. His attitude just totally p*ssd me off. "Let me tell you ONE MORE TIME," he said. Tried to tell him about my work situation. "LET ME FINISH...." he would say. Only gave me a month's supply of mino instead of the usual 3 to make SURE I showed up when I was supposed to.
I'm 31 years old and don't appreciate being treated like a child. Yeah, obviously if your doctor tells you something you should listen. His point was that he wanted me to get off the mino as soon as possible so that I didn't do any damage to the liver, etc. That's reasonable. But the way my skin was acting I KNEW that I'd have to stay on it for a while longer, and taking a day or half day off from work for him to tell me that would be pointless.
I felt like saying to him, "If you acutally gave me something that WORKED I wouldn't need to be on the mino anymore."
It's bad enough that I have to deal with this condition at my age, I shouldn't have to get attitude from someone who should be sympathetic. Bottom line is that I'm seeing a new doctor, who is more conveniently located and whom I've heard good things about. This new doc is in a state-of-the-art facility, so hopefully she's not such a dinosaur as the old derm and will be able to offer new treatments as an alternative to mino.
Sorry, didn't mean to write a book. Just wanted to vent. Feel free to vent about YOUR bad derm.
Sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience with your derm. I can tell you, I know exactly what that's like. The first 2 derms I went to were like that, they didn't care that I had to work or had other commitments. I had to be in their office when it was convenient for them. They didn't last too long. The derm I go to now is so nice and so understanding of my time so I'm really glad I found her! Unfortunately, my insurance doesn't cover dermatologists, but to have clear skin, I'll pay anything!
Good luck with your next derm, I hope everything works out for you!!
I don't mean to be stereotypical, but it has been my experience that the older male derms don't consider acne to be a big deal and always promise that the next prescription will help. I hate condescending doctors. I finally found a great derm that I am paying out of pocket for. Female, by the way. Maybe it's just that women are more understanding about the emotional turmoil and pain that acne causes....
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If it's worth having, it's worth fighting for.
yeah...i never cared for old school doctors, and they're mostly men, but i think that's more a factor of women not attending medical school back in the day. i'm sure one day bad dr's will be neck and neck in regards to gender
Good for you for switching...it's too bad you had to put up with that guy for so long.
Yeah! I once had a stupid derm too! And, he was all about getting the insurance money too. I felt totally rushed the first time I saw him and he barely looked at my face! This office would see a 100 people a day!!! I am not kidding you! (THe receptionist told me this) They had it set up like a production line and he had about 10 rooms. Well, I only saw him one more time after that and got a new doctor.
I had a good derm! And he was an older male. I agree though, most don't take acne as serious as we do... mainly because they deal with more serious issues everyday. If you're dealing with people who are literally dying from skin cancer, how sympathetic are you going to be to people with acne?
Hi all, sorry to revive an old post but I wanted to give you guys an update. I saw the new derm today. Wow, what a difference. I was a little scared upon going in because she's part of a rather posh skin clinic on Park Avenue in New York City, and I was afraid that 1) she would try to hawk their products and not really try to help my skin, or 2) I would feel like a total loser for having bad skin in this zone of beautiful people. Well, neither happened.
She was youngish, very bubbly and cheeful, and the meeting was more conversational rather than me getting yelled at (see my above post). I could tell she was rushed but still she sat and patiently answered all my questions. I told her my problems and what I had been using and she seemed to implicitly understand, unlike my old derm who would always suggest by his tone that I wasn't doing something properly, wasn't applying the gel correctly etc etc.
Results of the visit:
1) She wants me to get off the minocycline but not immediately. I should continue to use it for now. She said she was not aware of any long-term effects of the drug on the liver or kidneys, nor does she think the body builds up a resistance that could be bad news if you develop some other infection.
2) I should stay on the cleocin T (well, she gave me clindagel, but she said it's the same thing).
3) I should use differin once daily to unclog the pores. She said the acne would keep flaring up, even with the antiobiotics, if I don't unclog the pores. I've read some posts on this board where people said their skin was too irritated by the differin, so I'm a little leary. We'll see....
I scheduled my next visit for 8 weeks from now, unlike the old situtation where I had to go every FOUR weeks 'coz the derm wanted the money from my insurance co.
Thanks everyone for your messages of support! I'll keep you posted.
I've been through 3 derms as well. The one I am now with always seemed to be in a rush, but I found the clue to getting her to take her time and for me to feel like I accomplished something when I left...be her first appointment of the day. That way, she's not running behind schedule and she's very relaxed and fresh. It has made a world of difference, not that I enjoy being there at 8:30 a.m., but she's a different person vs. at 4:15 when my appointment was supposed to be at 3:00!!
fed up, finally switching to new derm 
