I would feel hope and relief if I encountered either a doctor or derm with acne. I alsothink its appalling that your derm said what he did to you. Should be ashamed of himself.

I would have more trust in you. Sometimes I go to a doctor or Derm and I feel as though they dont understand what Im dealing with. I would much rather have a dermatologist who has dealt with acne themselves than someone who hasnt.

I wouldn't be put off by a physician with acne. I think the important thing is how your acne effects your self-confidence and how you present yourself to your patients. If you are self conscious and insecure because of your skin then that may not inspire confidence, patients may not attribute it to your acne just your overall demeanor. I work in healthcare, and as in any other profession I've seen physicians with good skin and not-so-good skin, I've seen some that are shorter/taller and some that are generally more/less attractive but I've found that if you communicate well with your patients, have a good bedside manner and have self confidence the external stuff doesn't seem to be so important. With that said, if your acne is damaging your self-esteem and bothersome to you, more aggressive treatment might be appropriate. Good luck to you!

I'm a newly qualified doctor and this is something that concerns me too. I worry people will have less confidence in my ability to treat them if they see I can't even take care of my own skin. My skin isn't nearly as bad as it was and I can cover my acne and marks pretty well with makeup but I still have acne despite trying every other treatment so my derm has recommended accutane. Despite the risks and the fact that my skin is not that bad I am going to take it and the potential impact of my acne on the trust my patients have in me is one of the reasons why. I can understand why people here are saying they would like a doctor who has/has had acne to treat their acne; but amongst people who haven't had acne there are alot of misconceptions about it. That's just my opinion, bear in mind I am a very neurotic person!

It is quite ironic how a lot of these dermatologists have flawless skin... so as patients you think "wow they have perfect skin, maybe they can get me perfect skin as well" The funny thing is these derms probably never had a single skin issues in their lives. They have no idea about anything other than the hogwash they are taught in school

I'm not planning on going into medicine but I am still planning on having a clinical / allied health career... probably speech pathology or audiology but I've been considering OT too lately (haha all over the place - I need to figure out what I'm doing!) It worries me that i'll most likely work with kids in these careers and kids say whatever they think usually - and so it worries me what their reaction will be to my skin. I don't want them to think I look scary or something! And I still haven't figured out an answer to questions like 'what's that on your face?' (something a cousin of mine asked when she was younger). I also worry that their parents wouldn't take me seriously... sometimes acne makes me look younger than I am I think...

But I definitely wouldn't be 'put off' by a health practitioner / doctor / derm who had skin issues. I'd probably feel more comfortable with them / talking to them - especially if I was talking to them about my skin. All these responses though are coming from people who have concerns with their skin... I don't know how a person who has never had skin troubles would react / feel... I'm sure if they were a decent person it wouldn't bother them one way or another. It really shouldn't either.

One of my former gyno's had severe acne scarring and some acne. Never thought anything of it, actually made me feel more normal when a doctor can relate to your problem.

I wonder the doctor who invented accutane suffered any acne at all and why no one else did any thing else after 1982.

Hearing these responses makes me feel better. Little kids say whatever they want, actually, even adults say whatever they want. I had a fellow medical student ask me if I was on any acne medication infront of others, I was so embarrassed.

One of my former gyno's had severe acne scarring and some acne. Never thought anything of it, actually made me feel more normal when a doctor can relate to your problem.

she's right u know.

i am not gonna talk about dermas but otherwise ,say a cardiologist or neurosurgeon or psych consult shouldn't really worry about his/her skin.

i mean they dont have a reason to do so.

its ur skill with the scalpel that matters.

save a life and even the scars look like diamonds.

Hearing these responses makes me feel better. Little kids say whatever they want, actually, even adults say whatever they want. I had a fellow medical student ask me if I was on any acne medication infront of others, I was so embarrassed.

Yeah I dread situations like that.

I study a lot of health related courses at uni - physiology, pharmacology, anatomy and nutrition were the ones that I worried most about the topic of acne being brought up in... luckily that hasn't happened really. It was sort of brought up in a public health course though - acne and the emotional impacts of acne were the topics of an example paper the lecturer handed out and discussed briefly... I felt as if everyone was then starring at me... I wanted to disappear.

Hopefully that other medical student will develop more sensitivity / empathy for others during their medical studies and realise that asking personal questions like that in public isn't exactly ideal