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  1. #1
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Things your doctor should not tell you.

    I spent a lot of my life in Arizona and now I get little things on my face that bleed and could eventually become cancerous. The nurse practitioner at the dermatologist's office freezes them off with liquid nitrogen and I'm good to go. This occurs about once a year and she is not concerned.

    I really like this woman. She is extremely even keeled. She is also, however, very blunt. As happy as I am that I don't have what I used to think of as face cancer, I frequently come out of the experience thinking that there is something terribly wrong with my skin. Today, I was told that my skin was dry in a tone that made me feel like apologizing even though it's so dry out that the weather service issued one of those extreme fire danger warnings. Then I was told that I have rosacea which is typical in women older than thirty. I was quizzed about acne, the skin care products I use and the frequency with which I use them. I felt the need to explain that I didn't really care about the cosmetic stuff but she was invested.

    NP: Have you ever tried Cetaphil?
    Me: No but most lotions give me psoriasis.
    NP: I have a cream I can prescribe for you.
    Me: You know, I don't really use a lot of medications.
    NP: I'll get you a sample.
    Leaves, comes back. I look at the ingredients on the back, start laughing.
    Me: This is Ivermectin.
    NP: Yes.
    Me: I give this to my goats to de-worm them.
    NP, without missing a beat: Well, we all have parasites in our skin. Try it. Let me know if you need a prescription.

    Who wants to know this? I don't. And why do I want a prescription? I can get that at Tractor Supply.

    And knowing full well that my husband will never touch me again if I told him this story, I couldn't help myself and promptly called him to tell him this story because it was more important to me that someone else was as grossed out by this concept as I was.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    I've seen pictures of the creepy crawlies that infest our skin, eyelashes and eyebrows. Yuck. I found a link but I'm not posting it.
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  4. #3
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Snowshoe View Post
    I've seen pictures of the creepy crawlies that infest our skin, eyelashes and eyebrows. Yuck. I found a link but I'm not posting it.
    Thank you. There should be some mysteries in life. I'm just saying.

  5. #4
    Best Friend Retriever OHfemail's Avatar
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    Yep, I'm okay with not having the visuals!

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  7. #5
    Senior Dog Blackboy98's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by janedoe View Post
    I spent a lot of my life in Arizona and now I get little things on my face that bleed and could eventually become cancerous. The nurse practitioner at the dermatologist's office freezes them off with liquid nitrogen and I'm good to go. This occurs about once a year and she is not concerned.

    I really like this woman. She is extremely even keeled. She is also, however, very blunt. As happy as I am that I don't have what I used to think of as face cancer, I frequently come out of the experience thinking that there is something terribly wrong with my skin. Today, I was told that my skin was dry in a tone that made me feel like apologizing even though it's so dry out that the weather service issued one of those extreme fire danger warnings. Then I was told that I have rosacea which is typical in women older than thirty. I was quizzed about acne, the skin care products I use and the frequency with which I use them. I felt the need to explain that I didn't really care about the cosmetic stuff but she was invested.

    NP: Have you ever tried Cetaphil?
    Me: No but most lotions give me psoriasis.
    NP: I have a cream I can prescribe for you.
    Me: You know, I don't really use a lot of medications.
    NP: I'll get you a sample.
    Leaves, comes back. I look at the ingredients on the back, start laughing.
    Me: This is Ivermectin.
    NP: Yes.
    Me: I give this to my goats to de-worm them.
    NP, without missing a beat: Well, we all have parasites in our skin. Try it. Let me know if you need a prescription.

    Who wants to know this? I don't. And why do I want a prescription? I can get that at Tractor Supply.

    And knowing full well that my husband will never touch me again if I told him this story, I couldn't help myself and promptly called him to tell him this story because it was more important to me that someone else was as grossed out by this concept as I was.
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  9. #6
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    I don't like it when doctors use euphemisms to tell you what you came to see them about. I don't need to be told by a dermatologist that I have a "wisdom mark" or a "skin barnacle", seriously, I'm not a 5 year old. Just tell me the real name so I can look it up, since you're rushing through this exam, trying to foist some silly nickname off on me, and tell me if it's face/back/leg cancer or potentially could be.

    So you rub a cream with ivermectin in it onto your goats? Are your (normal) skin parasites causing those little lesions? If not, what is the purpose of using it?

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  11. #7
    Senior Dog Macy's Avatar
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    Euphemisms at the doctor's office are annoying to me. My dermatologist calls all my sun damaged, age related issues "birthday presents".
    I'm sure your doctor has never had a patient say "No thanks on that prescription- I'll just head on over to Tractor Supply"

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  13. #8
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smartrock View Post
    So you rub a cream with ivermectin in it onto your goats? Are your (normal) skin parasites causing those little lesions? If not, what is the purpose of using it?
    The goats take it internally. I put it in their feed either in liquid or pellet form. Almost all livestock take it for regular de-worming and you have to wait to use their milk or other products afterward. But it's all the same thing. Just Ivermectin. Kills parasites or interrupts their reproductive process.

    Curiously, the website for this particular product claims that they don't actually know how it works to reduce rosacea. The nurse practitioner seems pretty sure though.

    Edited to say: I'm on the fence with this one. I don't really care if I have little red spots of acne occasionally and since you can't eat the animal products after they take it, it can't be completely harmless.
    Last edited by janedoe; 10-24-2017 at 05:40 PM.

  14. #9
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    I used Metrogel for rosacea about 10 years ago. It cleared and hasn't returned. Of course, the main ingredient is metronidazole which our dogs get for diarrhea so, ya know, I guess it depends on how much it bothers you. I had a wedding to be in, not my own, it was bad so I needed to do something.

    The product info on the ivermectin cream says, "This once-daily, antibiotic-free topical prescription..." which seems somewhat deceptive, since ivermectin is an antiparasitic, so whether an antibiotic or an antiparasitic is somehow better than the other suggests a questionable advantage but maybe I don't know enough about the pharmacology to debate the issue.

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  16. #10
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Have not had to go to a dermatologist and after this, don't think I every will.
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