My first day at the Department of Dermatology

Dermat postings started today and it was as cool as anything. It was just in contrast to the casualty postings. In casualty, you were always on your toes and in dermat, your always sitting :) Go to the department OPD at 9.00 am.Sit with a consultant, and prescribe whatever he or she tells for the patient. You get to see cases and you'll be taught a bit too. Saw an RFC (Radio Frequency Cauterization) being done for the first time in my life. Never got to see it in my MBBS life (It's a different story that I never attended skin postings then, but people who attended also never got to see it). An hour of lunch break and then, you hardly get any patients in the afternoon session. To get one report from the microbiology lab, I went thrice!! Anyways, no regrets about that. I was sitting since morning and I needed to stretch my legs and that was a nice stroll :)


One thing I liked about Dermat is that, the diagnosis is very direct. Your diagnosis is right in front of your eyes. Its just what you see. Its not that you don't do tests in this branch. You do do investigations, but comparatively, the diagnosis is more direct and straightforward than the other branches. Or do I have to call the diagnosis as easier than other branches?!?!? I'll decide about it in the next 14 days of my postings :) I have one more job to do before my postings get over. Learn as many cases as possible, and decide whether I'll want to do Dermat for my M.D. I've kept it as an option and now I wanna decide about it. Oh boy!!MBBS life was far better. One more year, and we shall be a part of a big pool of unemployed people, not knowing what to do in life next!!


Before finishing, I wanna mention about one patient that I saw this morning. For people who are not from the medical world, The department is actually "Department of Skin and S.T.D.". So HIV +ve patients also come to this department for their check ups. They are advised regular check ups. One lady, aged around 35 years, a middle class-working woman, came to the OPD (Out Patient Department) for her check up. I saw her OPD card and it was written that her spouse was not HIV +ve , but she had received blood transfusion and had undergone a surgery. She didn't look like somebody who could have had an extra-marital relationship either. Now, how did she get the virus then? Whose to blame? You never know!!! She's been positive since the past 4 years and her spouse was tested 2 months ago too and her spouse and her kids are HIV -ve yet. I went through her record and saw that she has come regularly for check ups every month and she has had some or the other problem every month- multiple joint pains sometimes and oral candidiasis sometimes and something else some other time. And she comes all the way alone from Coorg for her check ups. She smiles at you when she comes in and when she's leaving, as though nothings happened. Felt really bad for her. Well, tip of the iceberg I guess...


Chandana C. Shekar