This is funny because when I saw a dermatologist they just prescribed retinol cream (the textbook solution), didn't look at my skin, and didn't much care for my thoughts or concerns about how to better care for it.
"Just take the cream damnit" - a couple years later I found that the cream was just adjusting the texture of my skin, and likely overly sensitizing it. The doc didn't care and was happy to continue prescribing it.
When doctors abscond their responsibility to know what they're talking about, folks have no choice but to seek it out. Many people have this experience with physicians of all stripes.
I just had a doctor completely mis-prescribe Azithromycin to me. They prescribed 5x the correct dose. I even asked them three times about it before leaving the appointment and they looked at me like I was crazy. Luckily my parents worked for Pfizer for a combined 80 years and confirmed my suspicions before I started taking it.
I had doctors give teenage me antibiotics for acne. Later on prednisone I believe. Jesus christ dermatologists are fucking awful. Never told me I needed to start washing my towels, bedsheets, pillowcases more often or suggested using a moisturizer.
Haha, yeah, doctors are pretty terrible. I had neck and jaw pain, and my Chinese-born dentist said “Well, I know how much you Americans like drugs and surgery, and there are some of those that will help, but really you’ll probably be fine if you just get neck and shoulder massages occasionally”
Sure enough, it worked. I was just hurting my neck by using my PDA too much with my neck craned downward, and getting massages/exercise or just not using a mobile device fixed the problem completely
> I had neck and jaw pain, and my Chinese-born dentist said “Well, I know how much you Americans like drugs and surgery, and there are some of those that will help, but really you’ll probably be fine if you just get neck and shoulder massages occasionally”
To be totally fair, I did recently seek help for recurring pain in the back of my head (also the top of the neck, but I described it as the head) and the urgent care nurse did some simple nerve damage tests, asked me about my sleeping posture, and told me the problem was likely that I was sleeping wrong and I should take a different position. He was right.
Of course, he wasn't a doctor either. :/
If you want to turn the tables on your Chinese-born dentist, ask him about the Chinese habit of stopping by the hospital for intravenous saline solution whenever you're feeling like you might have a cold.
I had this happen too, with a topical steroid. Went to another dermo a few years later and they gasped out loud when I showed them my old prescription. Overdose of topical steroids can cause permanent damage to the skin.
"Just take the cream damnit" - a couple years later I found that the cream was just adjusting the texture of my skin, and likely overly sensitizing it. The doc didn't care and was happy to continue prescribing it.
When doctors abscond their responsibility to know what they're talking about, folks have no choice but to seek it out. Many people have this experience with physicians of all stripes.