MD Going to med school with skin condition

[studentfizzition]

Hello all,

I needed some advice from you all with a particular situation that I am dealing with. I am a first yr student at a US med school. I have a severe form of skin disorder called hidradenitis supparativa. This condition is autoimmune and results in multiple boils on my skin throughout my body along with sinus tracts. Additionally, I bleed from my affected areas (armpits and groin). I have tried multiple treatments but they have not helped. My condition is chronic and I will likely have to deal with this for the rest of my life.

Before starting med school, I wasn't too concerned about my condition especially because it is not life threatening and didn't result in symptoms that affected my ability to study or work. My dermatologist told me that it is possible for me to pursue medicine but I would have to deal with the bleeding. So I decided to give it a shot. As a first yr student, I'm doing okay with my studies, but I do worry about my future as a physician. With regards to this, I have a few questions/concerns:

1. Before starting rotations, there is a physical/wellness exam appointment I must attend. Will my condition be flagged as something that will affect my ability to perform during rotations?
2. How will I do in rotations? Are there concerns with regards to my bleeding that would prevent me from doing certain tasks such as assisting in surgery?
3. How will I do in residency and beyond?

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[GoSpursGo]

These really are questions that would have to be answered by your school based on the policies at your school. People here could speculate, but really you need a personalized answer that only your school can provide. The sooner you reach out to them the better.

Basically, every school has something called a Technical Standards, or something equivalent, that spells out what you are physically and intellectually expected to be able to do as a medical student. You almost certainly signed something when you accepted your admission to the school that attested that you could perform these technical standards. I would read those standards. If there is anything in there that you are worried about (and based on what you are describing, I imagine that you would find something that would make this difficult) then you should reach out see if you could still accomplish the required training with reasonable accommodations.

 

[LunaOri]

Reach out to someone in student health, and ask how to manage your condition during rotations. Perhaps you can use occlusive bandages to keep the oozing contained. You also could comsult a dermatologist about possible treatments, or a surgeon about whether to have sinus tracts removed.

 

[Dr. Doctor MD]

Hello all,

I needed some advice from you all with a particular situation that I am dealing with. I am a first yr student at a US med school. I have a severe form of skin disorder called hidradenitis supparativa. This condition is autoimmune and results in multiple boils on my skin throughout my body along with sinus tracts. Additionally, I bleed from my affected areas (armpits and groin). I have tried multiple treatments but they have not helped. My condition is chronic and I will likely have to deal with this for the rest of my life.

Before starting med school, I wasn't too concerned about my condition especially because it is not life threatening and didn't result in symptoms that affected my ability to study or work. My dermatologist told me that it is possible for me to pursue medicine but I would have to deal with the bleeding. So I decided to give it a shot. As a first yr student, I'm doing okay with my studies, but I do worry about my future as a physician. With regards to this, I have a few questions/concerns:

1. Before starting rotations, there is a physical/wellness exam appointment I must attend. Will my condition be flagged as something that will affect my ability to perform during rotations?
2. How will I do in rotations? Are there concerns with regards to my bleeding that would prevent me from doing certain tasks such as assisting in surgery?
3. How will I do in residency and beyond?

Some thoughts:

-HS sucks, it's a really horrible condition that can be debilitating and really challenging to manage. Its definitely up there in the tier of the most diffucult dermatologic conditions (for patients and dermatologists)
-HS lies on a huge spectrum, from patient's who can live a completely normal life with minimal intervention, to those who sometimes can't even walk/move due to severe pain/flares despite maximal therapy.
-Whether HS is going to impact you in medical school and beyond depends on how severe your case is and how it flares or progresses over your medical training. It is probably hard to prognosticate how your HS is going to behave over the next decade.
-I recommend that you discuss with your school early and let them know about your situation and worries, that way, when or if you need accommodations at some point in your training, you already have people in your corner and a plan ready.
-I recommend you continue to follow very closely with your dermatologist and make sure your therapy is optimized (as therapy is multi-modal and often interdisciplinary especially if you're looking at surgical options). They are going to be helping you through the next few years and the rest of your life, so make sure you're seeing someone experienced and good.
-Start thinking about how your HS (if severe enough) might affect your specialty choice. Will you be able to stand scrubbed in for hours at a time? Do you want to be around patients all day? Do you want to be in a field where you can work from home or do path/rads, etc?

Overall, I think you'll do just fine in medical school and beyond, but you will need to 1) plan ahead before issues arise 2) be aggressive in managing your HS with your dermatologist and 3) think ahead to how your HS will influence your career and specialty choice