On a normal day at work, I have been seeing patients and at around noon my next appointment was a fifteen-year-old who came in with her mother. She has acne/pimples which is a common malady in her age group. By my assessment, the acne was of mild grade and I wrote the prescription and explained certain things that have to be changed in her diet and lifestyle to obtain better control of acne.
Now came the shocker. She told me that she has been using certain products and wanted to show those. A backpack is opened and out came 16 bottles of varying sizes, shapes and contents. She went on to explain the way, frequency and the method/ routine she uses them. Upon enquiry, she tells me that she bought all these products after thorough research by following various “ beauty influencers/skincare influencers “ . What baffled me more is, she called it research!!!
Dermatology is the field of medicine which specialises in treating conditions/diseases affecting skin, hair and nail and since these structures also define the beauty of a person, dermatologists by extension are also aestheticians.
To work on aesthetics you need to know the structure, function, and pathology of the skin and its appendages and the pharmacology of the drugs to treat a said condition or enhance certain aesthetic parameters.
To treat or beautify any skin, hair or nail malady you need the professional expert opinion of people who slogged their productive years of life in medical school to be able to identify a disease and treat a condition and help prevent sequelae and by extension help improve the aesthetic appearance in certain conditions.
To all who want to be influenced by the influencers, let your logic and rationality influence your thoughts before giving into the influencer’s influence which is based on zero medical knowledge. Yours sincerely, A dermatologist with a medical degree who is trying to steer you clear of baseless toxic influence
Yours sincerely,
A dermatologist with a medical degree who is trying to steer you clear of baseless toxic influence