Дерматолог Майкл Голд делится историей излечения от тяжелой акне и советами для молодых специалистов

Hooked on Dermatology with Michael H. Gold, MD When I was 16 years old, my acne was so bad that I had seen numerous dermatologists. I had the worst acne I have seen in practice, minus maybe five or 10 people. I tried every kind of medicine available. One doctor wanted to give me intralesional steroids, and, at 16, I was very needle phobic. I ran out of his office, my mother told me, because I was so scared of having somebody put a needle in my face. Ironically, I do that every day now. At that time, my father worked at a pharmaceutical company and was part of the University of Pennsylvania. He knew the late Albert Kligman, MD, the co-inventor of Retin-A, or tretinoin. He invited me to come to his lab with my parents. Dr. Kligman gave me a bottle and instructed me to put a dot or two on my face at night. As I have told people, being 16, I treated it like aftershave lotion. I started dousing it on my face every night. About 2 or 3 days later, I began having what I call a medium-depth chemical peel. My whole face peeled off. I compare it to one of those movies where the person takes a mask off. I stayed home from school for a week. I cried almost every night because I was in agony. But then, my acne went away, and it never came back. What Dr. Kligman ended up giving me was 5% tretinoin solution. He became my medical hero. My father was an infectious disease doctor, and I, too, was very interested in infectious diseases. When I was in high school and in college, I worked in infectious disease laboratories. But I was always fascinated by dermatology because of my acne and what Dr. Kligman did for me. When I got into medical school and started to think about what I wanted to do, I was allowed to visit various programs. I went to Northwestern, where I trained, and it was there that I realized that dermatology was medicine. When I got to residency, I also realized there was a cosmetic component to dermatology that I did not know much about. During my first day of dermatology residency, we performed a hair transplant. On the second day, we performed liposuction. On the third day, I received a big Fitzpatrick textbook and was told, “In 3 years, you’re going to memorize this.” It was an “oh my gosh” moment. Northwestern’s then-chairman, the late Henry H. Roenigk Jr., MD, another one of my heroes and mentors, was a very forward-thinking dermatologist, especially when it came to dermatologic surgery. As a student, I found dermatology fascinating under his guidance. I love medical dermatology, including complicated medical dermatology, and I also like pediatric dermatology, thanks to another great mentor during my residency, the late Nancy B. Esterly, MD. My mentors taught me that a good dermatologist knows a little bit about everything: internal medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, emergency medicine. One of the things I teach when I talk about acne treatments today is that there is a psychosocial component associated with acne. Some people with acne are depressed and they are socially isolated. What I love about dermatology is that it allows you to take many different paths. If you want to be a medical dermatologist, great. If you want to become an aesthetic provider, great. If you want to do both like I do, that’s great. Dermatology is special. People forget that dermatology is an integral part of the medical community, and we need to be. I am very lucky. I get to run meetings all over the world. I edit for dermatology journals. We have one of the largest clinical research facilities in the U.S. here in Nashville for medical and cosmetic research. I have had incredible people who have watched over me, if you will, who were ahead of me in the field. Now, if I have a question, there are so many people I can talk with and ask for advice about patient care or even what to do with my kids. I also tell people it’s okay to make mistakes. Today, I am a solo practitioner. I have a great staff. I have a wonderful group of people that I work with. You can’t be afraid to try something. I love what I do. I love medical dermatology. I love aesthetics. I love teaching. I love mentoring the next generation. I love running meetings like SCALE, the Five Continents Meeting and the DASIL non-profit dermatology society. Dermatologists are lucky people. And we can’t take it for granted. For more information: Michael H. Gold, MD, is a dermatologic surgeon and founder and medical director of Gold Skin Care Center and Tennessee Clinical Research Center in Nashville. Gold can be reached at [email protected] and on Instagram @goldskincarecenter.