‘Hi Dr. Gold. How are you doing? I have a patient with this rash…(sends pictures immediately with no history or anything) Please tell me how to manage’. Dr. Gold is unable to can. I do not possess an òpèlè ifá neither do I practice sorcery. There are only a limited no of ways the skin responds to different things. It takes someone with the ‘inner eye’ of dermatology to discern. Therefore, I need history and examination findings like any other system.
Again…there are primary and secondary lesions on the skin. You may be seeing a patient when the lesion is at secondary stage and has almost burnt out. You need to go back in time with the patient to get an idea of what the primary lesion looked like. Without that…Dr. Gold is unable to can. Dermatology may look like magic…but trust me, it’s not.
Again in this environment, so many patients have used several jagbajantis on their lesions ranging from triple action creams to brake fluid, to toothpaste, to herbal concoctions thereby altering the lesions. You need to take a thorough history. Without this, I simply cannot can.
With these few words of mine, I hope I’ve been able to convince you and not confuse you about the ‘ordinariness’ of dermatologists. We are not magicians or a descendant of obàtálá. Thank you Owner of sub….Oya catch it..lol