I heard several stories today from people. Each one led me to reflect. They all gave me one lesson to remember. It’s all about the people.
These stories were from several family friends detailing their struggles, their experiences with their skin. They all came about after they asked me what I wanted to do, and I told them about my recent ambition to do dermatology. They were all eye opening. I knew from my own experiences that skin conditions are horrible, can knock your confidence and that’s why I wanted to do dermatology in the first place – to help those who had that happen to them. But, today reaffirmed that for me. To an extent I did not expect.
I think I used to think it was just me. It was me who suffered more than everyone else. It was me who had the worst acne. Me whose acne needed 2 lots of roaccutane and still isn’t perfect. Me who cried all the time at the skin. Me me me. I didn’t really think about anyone else and how they were suffering too. I always knew others suffered too, but it didn’t occur to self-centred teenage me.
Today just reminded me that actually it was lots of people that suffered. Not just as teenagers too. Into their twenties and even into adulthood. It was something you know consciously and makes perfect sense, but for some reason, you need to hear it just once again, at the right time, for you to fully process and realise and reflect on it, and think ‘wow people really do have similar or worse experiences after all with their skin’.
The long lasting, almost traumatic, effects are evident from their stories. Their eyes. Their emotion. Their passion. Their crazy detailed knowledge about the topic. And it’s because they’ve suffered with it that they’ve done the research, they know what they need, but they don’t have the resources or contacts to necessarily get what they need. And it sounds extremely frustrating. They weren’t listened to, they were sent away, they were dismissed, they were told they were overreacting. It is tough in a Google age to tell your patients they’re actually incorrect about their own health, and it is tough to hear that from the patients they feel dismissed as a result. It’s a fine balance. It’s tough. It’s interesting.
At the end of the day, it’s all about the people behind the stories. The struggles. I want to give people that power. I want to listen. I want to help. I want to really help. I want people to feel confident in their own skin. I want to find out just why people get these skin conditions that debilitate people. It drives some people to severe depression and anxiety, and these conditions ruin and takeover lives. There are many other conditions that do too, of course. I could go on and on about each and every system, and how they all have conditions which just halt people in their life tracks. It is incredibly really, just how important health is, just how it can genuinely ruin lives in a way that is just so personal, yet universal.
I hope I can one day truly help people with their lives, with their skin, with their confidence, with them feeling themselves, feeling empowered and feeling listened to. I do care. I want to have the knowledge, the resources, the credibility to show that tangibly.
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