Selfies help

As physicians, we hear it time and time again – “By the time I came in to see you, my rash disappeared!” Well, no longer. More and more patients come into our clinic, showing us photos of their skin ailment on their mobile devices taken over a few days or even weeks at a time. This activity is extremely helpful in making a more precise diagnosis.

A recent example of how your photos can assist us is in the case of a young woman from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She had a few little red marks here and there, but nothing compared to the way the area looked on the selfie she showed me from a week prior.

Due largely to her photo, we were able to determine she had a more serious form of Rosacea – Granulomatous Rosacea, which requires us to treat the mites heavily infecting the skin (possibly causing scaring). Thankfully, there’s a new topical agent that helps with this condition called Ivermectin. I have used one oral dose of Ivermectin over the years very successfully to treat this type of Rosacea.

Kudos to all of you who take photographs of yourselves and bring them into your dermatologist!

Happy Holidays!

Dr. Levy