Dermatology

[Aquarius1234]

AIBU to think Dermatology whether through the NHS or private is a bloody nightmare.

In what way?

There can be long waits, and it takes a while to find medications that work.

I see.
DH sees dermatology a lot and they are marvellous, but that’s for multiple SCC’s so I didn’t know how bad it was for other issues.

1 plus year waiting list NHS and 3 months private waiting..

There isn't enough dermatologists.

You go private then while there are told you should be referred back to the NHS for monitoring.
What's the point when appointments are a year apart.

They cover quite common health problems so yes the waiting lists can be long

So many dermatology services have been privatised. That's why service is crap. They were the cheapest on the tender response.

The private consultants only work one day or even less at the private hospitals no wonder the wait time is long.
I don't really get why they don't like you to be monitored privately.

The private consultants who work one day or evening at the private hospitals will also work part or full time at an NHS hospitals.

They can only do so much each.

They can be hit and miss. It took a while for them to diagnose me - I had a biopsy in the end. But then covid hit so it took from my diagnosis in February until November to get any medication for it. I had a couple of telephone appointments in the meantime but they couldn’t prescribe anything over the phone.

Once I was back in the system in effect I was seen fairly regularly I’m now on my 4th different medication since November 2020. They gave me the nurse helpline number to ring if I had any medication issues and for blood test results and they have been very helpful. Nothing had ever been particularly quick and if they say they will see me again in six weeks it’s usually at least 10.

I should imagine that waiting times are even longer now. My condition isn’t life threatening, or serious but it’s painful and has a big impact on my daily life.

Yes but NHS wait list still crazy long.
Plus many cancelled apps.

I was misdiagnosed for something else and it's taken 19 + months to finally nearly be sorted. Going back between different people.

Dermatology is not an exact science. There's no test to say yea it's x and not y it's all done on observations of blood, skin, presentation etc for the most part.

Misdiagnosis is common.

Then, to treat there are loads of treatment options for each condition. And what worked perfectly for Jane won't work for Joe and what worked for Anne doesn't work for Sue even though they all have the same condition.

It's very much shot in the dark. It took 25 years of living with severe eczema to get my skin finally clear and even then it's come back after 3 years of that treatment.

Add on that many skin conditions like eczema have no cure... only minimisation.