Would you rather look younger than your age or older?

[BuckStrickland]

25 y/o male here, I look maybe 18-19 in the sun, and really dont see myself aging any time soon 🙂 I personally like it but there are times when I wonder if it would be more useful to look older as a physician. Have any of the elders on this forum experienced people not taking you seriously for looking too young?

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[Robin-jay]

Give Hank a promotion.

Also, what was the one school that didn't give you a secondary?

 

[BuckStrickland]

Give Hank a promotion.

Also, what was the one school that didn't give you a secondary?

I gave hank his chance. how do i add a poll to this post?

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

Younger in general....but when you are in your 30s and people mistake you for a teen it starts to get a bit ridiculous.

 

[Robin-jay]

I gave hank his chance. how do i add a poll to this post?

You demoted him after he said he "loved You", you monster.

I'm not sure how to add a poll, you might only be able to do it when first starting the thread but I don't know.

 

[Biology is fun]

No one takes me seriously. I don't know if that because of how I look though.

 

[BuckStrickland]

Younger in general....but when you are in your 30s and people mistake you for a teen it starts to get a bit ridiculous.

I guess this is the fear that I have. How can I prevent this from happening? Please give advice to your younger self.

 

[RTC19]

Older. People take you more seriously when they think you are older. I am your same age, OP, and people still think I am in high school. It gets obnoxious.

P.S. Great username. 🙂

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

I guess this is the fear that I have. How can I prevent this from happening? Please give advice to your younger self.

Its not really so bad....when you are 40 and look 10-15 years younger it's pretty fantastic actually.

 

[The Dragon Slayer]

The answer to this question is going to depend entirely on who you ask. Nearly everyone under the age of 20 is going to respond "older," and you will see the opposite response when you start sampling people older than 25. In other words, everyone wants to be 21.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I’m about to be 34 and frequently am mistaken for 26-28. I don’t see why people care. It in no way affects my actual age, and my behavior more than compensates for any preconceived notion someone might have given how old they think I am.

 

[Spectar]

Younger. I'm 22 and look like I'm 30 because I grow a lot of beard hair and I'm tired all the time.

Hell, forget about looking older, I feel older too. I somehow gained 15 pounds this semester and random things hurt all the time.

 

[On_The_Way_Up]

Younger. Easy decision. You always want to keep the youth for as long as you can. Also looking younger you can date younger women.

 

[Catalystik]

Have any of the elders on this forum experienced people not taking you seriously for looking too young?

I never felt I wasn't taken seriously, but many parents/patients over the years have felt free to comment on my younger appearance, something I was very self conscious about at first. But then I learned to disarm them with a response of, "Thank you," as if it were a compliment.

I recently heard a reply from a newly-minted attending that I like even better though: "It takes a lot of botox to keep me looking this good."

 

[altblue]

I'm in my mid-20s and until recently I've always looked older for my age, mainly because of my height & voice (and I guess I have one of those "mature" faces). Thankfully I still have all my hair and I take care of myself better than most, so maybe I'll look younger for my age in the future lol. Will either side help me in medicine? I don't know

I've felt more pressure to be confident and mature because of my age and it makes me nope more when thinking about pursuing much younger women, but overall it's been alright. When you can be confident and socially savvy, the mature look helps sell it. Should help in medicine too.

 

[RooskayAliskay]

Younger, definitely! For most of my life, I've been mistaken for appearing to be 3-10 years older than I actually am Quite unsettling if you ask me.

On the upside however, it does seem to help with the perception of credibility that you receive from others, so it's not all bad

 

[DameJulie]

Younger.

 

[calivianya]

I’m about to be 34 and frequently am mistaken for 26-28. I don’t see why people care. It in no way affects my actual age, and my behavior more than compensates for any preconceived notion someone might have given how old they think I am.

It depends on the tone. If the patient/family member is just casually commenting that I look young, it doesn't bother me... it's when they cross their arms, look down their noses, and flat out question my competence (Are you even old enough to be here? Do you even have any experience? Have you even worked with this (insert equipment/dx here) before?) that it gets on my nerves. I know they're just displacing their confusion/fear about their family members' situation on to me, but it's still really not appreciated.

 

[68PGunner]

25 y/o male here, I look maybe 18-19 in the sun, and really dont see myself aging any time soon 🙂 I personally like it but there are times when I wonder if it would be more useful to look older as a physician. Have any of the elders on this forum experienced people not taking you seriously for looking too young?

You're going to appreciate this genetic jackpot when you hit your 30s as a dude. I'm in my 30s and people think that I'm in my 20s. Some of my classmates in their 20s are aging horribly with 40-50% of their hairs going grey while some of them are going through male pattern baldness right at the parietal region.

 

[dr_kateb]

Younger obviously. I already do. I can pull off being a high schooler right now. When I was a freshman in high school I legitimately looked like a elementary schooler in photos.

 

[Canterbury]

Definitely younger! My husband and I took our children and his mother out for her birthday, and the server passed me a children's menu as I was ordering a martini. Poor guy looked so confused. I loved it though. He got a huge tip, haha! I'm 33, by the way.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

It depends on the tone. If the patient/family member is just casually commenting that I look young, it doesn't bother me... it's when they cross their arms, look down their noses, and flat out question my competence (Are you even old enough to be here? Do you even have any experience? Have you even worked with this (insert equipment/dx here) before?) that it gets on my nerves. I know they're just displacing their confusion/fear about their family members' situation on to me, but it's still really not appreciated.

That happened to me once. I just assumed it was because she was very nervous about having surgery and wanted to make sure everyone involved knew what they were doing. I assured her I wasn’t 17 and that I had plenty of experience lol.

 

[kamakazi5]

I used to want to look older because I'm in my early 30s and have always been mistaken for 18-20. However, I'm recently divorced and now that I may have to start the dating life I would much rather look younger.

 

[aldol16]

Depends on what age I am when you ask me. If I was in my early twenties, I'd say I want to look like I'm in my late twenties. If I'm in my forties, I'd say I want to look like I'm in my late twenties.

 

[hmockingbird]

It depends on the tone. If the patient/family member is just casually commenting that I look young, it doesn't bother me... it's when they cross their arms, look down their noses, and flat out question my competence (Are you even old enough to be here? Do you even have any experience? Have you even worked with this (insert equipment/dx here) before?) that it gets on my nerves. I know they're just displacing their confusion/fear about their family members' situation on to me, but it's still really not appreciated.

Yeah this. I’m not sure if my face looks “young” so much as I’m really short and lots of people don’t think critically about that. I mostly get benign comments/questions that are at worst annoying (because I hear it so much). I usually don’t tell people my age bc I feel like they don’t need to know, and deflect instead. I have had a few bad encounters but they aren’t the majority. However I did have one really bad rotation in med school with lots of patients doubting me and I was bullied by staff members about my height (cause we’re in 3rd grade apparently) which turned me off from that specialty. I generally think I’m pretty good at acting confident and changing people’s assumptions just from a lifetime of being doubted for my appearance (it was more of an issue growing up and I learned how to act to get around it). There are some perks like I can pull off child admission rates haha. I’d say I’d rather look older but I know this was an issue for my sister as a teen so... probably just grass is greener.

 

[Turkishking]

I’m in my early 20’s, and probably look like I’m in my upper 20’s. I have random gray strands of hair that’s visible. I would rather look younger.

 

[Afp0731]

Younger. I'm 22 and look like I'm 30 because I grow a lot of beard hair and I'm tired all the time.

Hell, forget about looking older, I feel older too. I somehow gained 15 pounds this semester and random things hurt all the time.

I'm almost 28 and I still can't grow a beard. Stupid genetics..

 

[mwsapphire]

I'm 20 and the residents and workers at the hospice I volunteer at frequently ask me what HS I go to . Not sure how I feel about it though.

 

[BuckStrickland]

However I did have one really bad rotation in med school with lots of patients doubting me and I was bullied by staff members about my height (cause we’re in 3rd grade apparently) which turned me off from that specialty. I generally think I’m pretty good at acting confident and changing people’s assumptions just from a lifetime of being doubted for my appearance (it was more of an issue growing up and I learned how to act to get around it). There are some perks like I can pull off child admission rates haha. I’d say I’d rather look older but I know this was an issue for my sister as a teen so... probably just grass is greener.

which specialties would you say are the bad ones for young looking doctors?

 

[willow84]

I’m about to be 34 and frequently am mistaken for 26-28. I don’t see why people care. It in no way affects my actual age, and my behavior more than compensates for any preconceived notion someone might have given how old they think I am.

Early 30s as well, and people routinely guess my age at 26 - 28. I love it!

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

which specialties would you say are the bad ones for young looking doctors?

In every field you will have patients that think you’re too young to be doing whatever it is you’re doing.

 

[RooskayAliskay]

In every field you will have patients that think you’re too young to be doing whatever it is you’re doing.

Truest. Statement. Ever.

 

[neatsf]

I rather look younger. I am around your age (male just turned 26), and people think I look 19-20.

 

[texmex11]

Older. I'm 24, but was recently asked to get my mom's permission to have a food sample at the grocery store because the employee thought I was 14....

 

[BuckStrickland]

Older. I'm 24, but was recently asked to get my mom's permission to have a food sample at the grocery store because the employee thought I was 14....

what a disaster xD do you lift? I think it has been helping me a bit I don't get carded for rated R movies anymore lol

 

[texmex11]

what a disaster xD do you lift? I think it has been helping me a bit I don't get carded for rated R movies anymore lol

No, but I probably should! I'm just dreading the day I walk in to see my patient and they ask me where my mom is haha

 

[neatsf]

No, but I probably should! I'm just dreading the day I walk in to see my patient and they ask me where my mom is haha

I got carded at my cousin's wedding. The funny thing is that my cousin is younger than me (2.5years) and didn't get carded. lol

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Im 20 and have had people ask me if I even have a permit to drive the ambulance. Baby face is no joke.

 

[Dr. Scribe]

I turn 25 soon and am always carded when ordering -OH.....

The girls I hang out with (same age as me) are always super jealous