ABSTRACT
Have you ever seen a patient with a common skin disorder who said, "Doc, you're the sixth dermatologist I've seen for this?" I used to think these patients must have had a particularly resistant skin condition, an unusual disease variant that doesn't respond to treatment the way the condition usually does, or perhaps that the skills of the previous dermatologists who the patient had seen were questionable. But think about this for just a moment-what is the chance that a patient could see five other dermatologists and not one of them make the right diagnosis? That's pretty unlikely. And what is the chance that a patient could see fwe other dermatologists and not one of them prescribe the right treatment ... even by chance? Not very likely either. Here in North Carolina, there is an incredible array of wonderful dermatologists, every one of whom would have made the right diagnosis and prescribed the appropriate treatment.
