Dermatologist (nurse, medical, patient, exams)

[rogersjiml]

you have not been the first naked patient that they have seen, nor will you be the last.

[Preharp]

I'm 21 years old. Haven't been to many Dr. Before. I got a bump on my forehead that wouldn't go away, so I called a dermatologist office in my town and scheduled an appointment. When I got there, I found out my doctor was female. Didn't matter to me. I just thought she would look at my bump and send me out. When the nurse came and got me and took me back, she asked me a bunch of questions and told me to have a seat and wait for the Dr. When my Dr. Came in, she introduced her self asked me some questions as she looked at my bump and felt it. She then told me to stand up and get undressed, and to put a gown on that was under the table/bed. She told me to take everything off but my underwear. She says she likes to give her new patients a total look over. She stayed in the room, with her back turned. She would continue to ask me questions as I was undressing and would turn and look at me as I would answer them. When i got the gown on, She then told me to sit on the table. She checked my feet, toes, my hair,legs knees ect... She then told me to stand up and take my gown off. She then checked my chest, and stomach and my thighs. Then she went behind me and checked my back. She grabbed the waistband of my briefs and pull the back of them down below my butt for about 10 seconds and then told me to pull them back up and get dressed. I was kind of embarrassed, but I'm glad I had a female Dr. Would NOT have wanted a male Dr. to do all that to me. Now I look for a female Dr whenever I need to go.

[cb at sea]

Go to the freaking dermatologist! If you have skin cancer...you want a pro to deal with it.

[PhotogGal]

I specifically requested a femal doctor (I am a female), and when I got there, I'd been assigned to a male. Wasn't that upset about him seeing me, but I thought he wasn't very good. I was happy when I got a letter advising that he was leaving the practice and one of his colleagues would be happy to see me. Next time I WILL insist on a female doctor.

[Biker53]

A question here. I have never had a full body exam by a dermatologist but I expect I will be having one in the not so distant future. We all get to choose our doctors and in my case I am more comfortable with male doctors than with female. That part I can control. My question is whether dermatologists do exams without a nurse or assistant in the room. At issue is it appears that dermatologists only seem to hire female staff, and I would not be comfortable with a woman in the room watching me have a full body exam. Is it acceptable to ask for an exam with just the doctor present (assuming he doesn't have a male staff member to assist as the doctor might want)?

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Won't happen. It's for the doctor's protection, having a witness. My full body exam was done in stages, with only one part uncovered at a time.

[Biker53]

SouthernBelle, my apologies. I didn't make clear that I am a male. I know that most male doctors won't have intimate exams or procedures on women without another woman present, but I'm unaware of male doctors ever using chaperones for male patients. The issue for me would be the doctor wanting a female staff member there to take notes for him or some such.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

These days anyone can cry molestation. Call and ask.

[Biker53]

SouthernBelle, absolutely I will ask before making the appt. I was just wondering if it is the norm for dermatologists to have a nurse or other staff person present to take notes or some such during full body exams, or for that matter to have a chaperone. Knowing this will better prepare me for the discussion. The bottom line is that if he won't do it by himself I will go to someone else who will (or who is a little more up with the times and has a staffing mix that includes males who can assist him).

For me the issue is not body image issues at all. It is rather a combination of my thinking it is inappropriate to be needlessly exposing myself in front of female medical staff and my having grown weary of the double standard that exists in medical settings as concerns male vs female modesty.

[Texas Ag 93]

I've known several dermatologists and all of them are females. But, if you go to a large enough practice, particularly an academic practice, you can find males. The more difficult part will be finding clinical and support staff who are males because staff, especially in physician clinic and office settings, are still overwhelmingly female.

I've only had 3 encounters with Dermatologists, 2 of them recently, once for myself and once just last week for my daughter. Both times, the physicians were females, and they didn't have anyone else in the room with them, and I got the impression they usually didn't have an assistant present. However, I'm a female, and you are a male who clearly wants another male present, and that's your prerogative. You may have to search around a bit, but certainly should be able to find what you're looking for.