This year we are seeing a lot more actual patients.  It is really interesting, and when you see, touch, smell and talk to a person with a condition, it seems to be much more memorable.

I thought I would just take a few notes of when I see these patients, to help me remember, and to plot my development in understanding the massive field of medicine.

Some of the conditions I have seen this year include atopic dermatitis, bullous pemphigoid, Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia-1, Pityriasis Rubra Pilaris and mycosis fungoides.   You may or not be able to tell from that list that my clinical coach for this block is a dermatologist.  We have put much effort into elucidating the subtleties in the differential diagnosis for erythroderma.

This past week we saw a patient with Hidradenitis Suppurativa.  This is such a horrible disease of the skin in which it is so badly chronically inflamed by a form of acne that over time, scars, tracts and comedoes form such a disfiguration of the skin that it looks like someone had recovered from massive burns.  Often the skin remains ulcerated and open.  The chronic inflammation often precedes development of cancer.  This patient was 43 but it looked like he was in his 60s.  It is so severe it destroyed his life.

I won’t be able to forget that for quite some time.  Hopefully I never will.   If I do, I can maybe look back at this to remember.

Tags: Australia, Life, Medicine, UQ by David Graff
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