doctors.....ignorant?

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Originally posted by petie

i go on the net and i hear all sorts of wonderful cures for kp and facial redness/blushing. yet when i go to a doctor/dermatologist and tell them of my discoveries on the net, they laugh at me and assure me that i am crazy. "Your face is red due to anxiety and it is all in your head, deal with it" is their favorite response. From my understanding, my face is red due to an excess of abnormal (overly dialated) blood cells in my cheeks and according to my findings, there are lasers to fry those darn blood cells and therefore cure me of facial redness. right? right? By the way i dont have kp on my face, just redness and a strong tendency towards blushing. Anybody else hear of photoderm to cure blushing or ets surgery to cure blushing and overall vasomotor instability? Is it possible that i know more than my dermatologist?

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Originally posted by Samara

I've had the same kinds of experiences with doctors. The last time I went, I was told that nothing could by done but I stood my ground and started listing off all the medications I had heard about from this board (which he laughed at). But I wasn't leaving without a prescription for something! When I handed over the prescription he wrote to the chemist, I discovered that he had prescribed me something that hadn't been available in Australia for many years. I was very disappointed but have decided to not waste any more time or money on doctors - I'm going to fix this myself! My first order of sulphur soap arrived this morning and if that doesn't work, I'll try the MSM. In the last few weeks, I've been moisturising twice a day with the Body Shop's Nut Butter and it has vastly improved the appearance of my KP but has not gotten rid of it. Good luck with it and don't let those doctors discourage you!

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Originally posted by Ivana.B.Smooth

I don't think doctors are trying to sabotage us on purpose. They must have thousands of diseases/problems they have to deal with that they can't possibly know everything there is about one particular condition. They mostly concentrate on those that can actually kill people and don't take "cosmetic" diseases such as ours, as seriously. I got really depressed once when I asked a doc about my KP and he told me there was no cure, that I would have to learn to live with it and that his wife had the same condition. I figure if his wife had it and there was something that could be done he would know about it. Medical schools are sponsored by biotechs. If a cure was found for some of the more common skin diseases such as acne and KP these companies would lose a lot of money because we would no longer be buying their products. Someone else on this board mentioned this fact and I believe it. I believe there IS a cure for KP but it is up to us to find it. And even if we can't get rid of it completely I would be happy with it getting 80% better, it's better than nothing. I have already seen an improvement through the use of sulfur soap, I'm hoping that sulfur supplements are what will really fix my skin for good.

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Originally posted by AK

Yes, doctors are ignorant. My girlfriend's doctor told her that she had acne on her arms. It was obviously KP. My derm could not answer my questions when posed as open ended questions, but if I lead him, he could answer them. All most derms do is give you Amlactin/Lachydrin/Carmol. If that doesn't work, then they shrug and say it's genetic and there is nothing you can do. It is up to us to do research. I am very grateful for this board bc at least I can learn of possible treatment options.

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Originally posted by Rachel.

About a year ago I finally decided to go to the doctor about the "weird bumps" on my arms. The doctor took one look at them, shrugged, and said that he had never seen anything like them before. He told me that there was nothing he new that he could give me for it, but that hopefully the rash would leave me after my teenage years...
Well, I wasn't going to take that because I knew someone else in the world could possibly have my condition, so I decided to research on the internet. I diagnosed myself with KP, and went back to the doctor and asked him about medications which i had found for my condition. He THANKED me for teaching him about this peculiar "Keratosis Pilaris" and then charged me, as usual. The moral of the story is to NEVER TRUST DOCTORS/ DERMATOLOGISTS etc. Always research into your condition yourself, and/or get second opinions from other doctors...
just thought I'd share how frustrated I am with people in the medical profession (no offence to any doctors, etc, on this website!!).