Should dermatoligists do check ups on general health before offering medications for acne?

Question

I ask this because with such dangerous drugs like Accutane and loads of antibiotics that do more damage then good, I believe it should be required to see what might be going on in other parts of your body that is making your skin unable to regulate common bacteria thus enabling the developmentacne legions.

I say this because i have battled acne for the last 5 years, terribly the last two. My problem? Lack of dental hygiene. I never flossed a day in my life, and would brush only sporadically daily.

As soon, and I mean the very next day, as I visited a dentist and had an uber cleaning, I literally woke up the next day, and this is even after I put finger to face and brought world war three on the latest globby whiteheads, the next mornign I woke up with ZERO new lesion. I had at this point became used to making my way to the bathroom every morning to see what new buildups and pimples where now there. A week later, and my face is the clearest it's been in years and I couldn't be more thrilled.

My point is, I believe acne is allowed to check in if your bodies' immunde defenses are busy waging war elsewhere in the body. In my case it was my body fighting the stuff eating away at my gums. I swear I will never go a day without 3x brushing sessions, flossing flouride mouthwash and the waterpick. Good oral health, by the way, combats everything from cancers to heart disease,

Dermatologists would ensure their patients health by inquiring about what's going on the body instead of looking at the damage cystic acne can wreak and prescribing medications that only further disrupt immune activity. This is serious am I wrong? The vast numbers of those with unfortunate oral care regimans compare to the vast numbers of acne suffers, and I don't believe it's a coincidence.

Answer 1

Jared- Dermatologists normally will get a verbal history from patients about their general health but do not do general physical exams which take 30-45 minutes.  They expect patients will have a primary care physician who diagnoses general body conditions.  The patient needs to be the one who tells the dermatologist of any known body disorders or diseases.  That's just the way it is because of time and money limitations.  It may not be ideal, but that's it.  If you're concerned about possibly having an immune system disorder, then your internist or general practice doctor is the one to see.

Answer 2

Doctors are given most of their medical information from drug companies. I have worked with and talked with experts in this area, and doctors do over prescribe and prescribe differently if their main source of information is drug companies. Doctors who have time to read the medical literature prescribe completely differently.

So yes, there are many other cures for acne. My favourite cure is hard water (water with a lot fo minerals). If you wash your face in bore water or salt water your skin is much clearer.

So, yeah this could be the case of one problem affecting another. Doctors don't concentrate on general health, and this is not their focus or maybe not even their job. we go to doctors for cures.

But we don't go to doctors for health. Maybe there should be a new focus in scientific medicine focused on health.