HOW WE DEFINE DERMATOLOGY
Janine Mendes-Franco
Need a doctor that really gets your skin, hair and nail woes? That’s where dermatologists come in. At Serpentine Dermatology though, we don’t treat skin, hair and nails. We treat people.
Helping you find a way to treat excessive sweating, for instance, means you can reclaim your social life. Catching skin cancers in the early stages gives you more time with family and friends, and treating your hair loss goes hand in hand with raising your confidence level and improving your quality of life.
After all, skin, hair and nails are indelibly linked to our external appearance, so dermatologists are very attuned to patients’ cosmetic concerns, but we also go deeper.
The itching from eczema and psoriasis, for instance, can be so debilitating that it interrupts sleep. The appearance of scarring, or acne and its associated stigma can cause depression and lowered self esteem. The skin is often the first place that symptoms of underlying health issues manifest themselves, as is the case with kidney patients who complain about itchy skin. At the same time, certain skin conditions could make you more susceptible to other conditions like high blood pressure.
We believe everyone should be as comfortable with themselves as they can be, so our mission is to help you love the skin you’re in. One of the best parts of our job it that we get to grow with so many of our patients as they go through life’s journey.
Our training prepares us to treat everyone from newborns to senior citizens. First, we’ve got to have a strong academic background in the Sciences — getting all As at CAPE level examinations is usually a prerequisite to getting into a good university, where most degrees take five or six years to complete. This is followed by a four-year dermatology residency, where we work alongside more experienced doctors in order to complete as many as 16,000 hours of patient care.
Additionally, we must pass challenging exams to become become board — or in the case of UK-trained dermatologists — MRCP certified, and commit to ongoing training, education and continued professional development over the course of our career.
It’s also important for us to have local knowledge, as conditions affecting people in other climates, for example, may play out very differently in our part of the world. This makes our job fluid, dynamic, and really satisfying, especially when we see the positive impact it can have on the lives of our patients.