Day 4 was super educational! I had the privilege of shadowing Dr. G, who is an amazing dermatologist! He was very patient and took every opportunity to explain and teach me new things! I appreciated the diagrams he drew and advice he gave me about dermatology and medical school in general. We saw a total of 8 patients with varying concerns. A couple of the patients just came in for general body checks, but others came in for irritant contact dermatitis in the form of a rash, discolored patches of skin, and biopsies. One of the biopsies was originally going to be an ED & C of previously biopsied areas but ended up being biopsies of new places. As a result, I got to witness some cool biopsies and also learn about the difference between biopsies and ED & Cs. ED & C “scoops” deeper into the skin, past the epidermis to the dermis, to remove the cancerous basal or squamous skin cells entirely. Biopsies, on the other hand, only scrape the surface layer, the epidermis, and take a sample of the skin tissue instead. This is because biopsies are used to obtain a sample of tissue to determine, most often, whether cancer is present. We also had a couple of people who got age spots treated with liquid nitrogen, and I got to look at skin cells treated with KOH under a microscope to check for bacteria. Today was a good day and I’m gracious for all of Dr. G’s help! Below is a picture of a basal cell carcinoma that would be removed with ED & C.
Picture 1: https://westcancercenter.org/cancer-type/non-melanoma/