if u hate histology and microscopes give you motion sickness...derm bad idea?

[percywilkins]

---

Members do not see this ad.

If you hate histology, and you hate using microscopes b/c after a few minutes of using them continuously u get motion sickness...is derm a really bad idea? Or are microscopes only used sparingly....like once every 30 min or something?

 

[KeratinPearls]

If you hate histology, and you hate using microscopes b/c after a few minutes of using them continuously u get motion sickness...is derm a really bad idea? Or are microscopes only used sparingly....like once every 30 min or something?

Dude, are you premed? Do you even know what Derm is about? I'm not a derm resident and I know derm is not about looking at microscopes all day. You see patients in clinics, look at their skin and prescribe meds.

I think residents do a month of dermpath a year in residency where you have to look at slides under the scope.

 

[percywilkins]

Dude, are you premed? Do you even know what Derm is about? I'm not a derm resident and I know derm is not about looking at microscopes all day. You see patients in clinics, look at their skin and prescribe meds.

I think residents do a month of dermpath a year in residency where you have to look at slides under the scope.

Uhh...how does asking that make me a "premed"? Read my post again; nowhere did I say that "derm is about looking at microscopes all day". There is a microscope aspect to it, when you take a sample of someones skin and analyze it. I have not shadowed a derm though, and I have not started 3rd year yet, so I don't know how often that aspect of derm occurs. Thats what I am wondering...how often and how long they are used on average in practice.

 

[Dral]

Well, as KeratinPearls stated, you'll undoubtedly be looking through microscopes a lot during at least a few months during residency. After that, you can probably pretty much avoid it if you so choose (Just as you can choose to pretty much only do it exclusively).

I'd say it definitely helps to have an interest in it though because it really is a part of the field.

So as an example, if you're working in a private practice group, you may have a dedicated dermpath person who reads all the office slides. Alternatively, you may send your samples off to an outside dermpath. Can you get an impression of what's going on by cutting to the chase and reading the dermpath's final read? Yeah. Will you probably be a better dermatologist by really understanding the histology and maybe even going to sit in on some dermpath sign outs of your patients? Yeah.

 

[opencomedo]

A few things..

1. Histology is not the same as Pathology. I didnt much care for histology either but found Path to be a lot more interesting (not just about structure but more about disease states).

2. If you "cant stand" Path then Derm is prob not a good idea. 1/3 of Derm boards is comprised of Path.

3. I get motion sick sometimes too, I have heard you will get used to it, or at least learn to cope. Some people are better than others when signing out and dont move the slides around as fast, which helps.

 

[Palintology]

I did a monthlong dermpath rotation as a med student. I actually really like dermpath, but also had problems with motion sickness early on -- I started taking dramamine and, if you can deal with its sedative properties, it works really well. I plan to use it during residency, also.

 

[03Doc]

Getting familiar with dermatopathology is, like it or not, part-and-parcel to getting through derm residency and the derm boards. Beyond that, it is also something that good general derms do stay familiar with, at least to an extent. You do get used to the scope the more you do it, BTW.