At the dermatologist’s, you do not know what to expect.
A pinhead sized beauty spot could be a malignant melanoma and a normal looking wart would be a sqamous cell carcinoma. A really painful blister would turn out to be a pimple and itchy skin would just be allergy.
Before you visit a dermatologist, you should be ready to get surprised. Even as a medical student, I got terribly surprised when my dermatologist announced that a small pimple on the neck (infected sebaceous cyst, to be precise) would require a surgical removal under general anesthesia.
Bah.
I was back home after a long flight journey from Argentina. My skin was never very good to adapt to the extremes of the climate, be it hot or cold. I hadn’t packed a moisturizer for my Argentine trip, and efforts to buy a good quality moisturizer from Argentine shops turned out to be futile.
By the time I reached home, my skin had shriveled up and had even started peeling off. My lips were dry and cracked. It was in a terrible shape that I landed at the dermatologist.
I was ready to get surprised. I would deal it head-on with it if I am diagnosed of a malignant melanoma. I would tell my friends and relatives that there is a possibility of distant metastasis to the liver and lungs and that I would go in for the best treatment known to the medical community. I was badly in need to fall in a terrible illness so that I would be able to show that I am brave enough to fight the disease.
The dermatologist’s cubicle was a bit crowded when I arrived. Medical students do not have the habit of waiting for their turn when they are in the hospital. I just broke the queue and went inside.
I was welcomed by the sweet smile of a woman doctor. She had thin eyebrows and long eyes. Her eyelashes were long and nose was pointed. Her pink lips reminded me of rose petals. She was wheatish in complexion and had braided her hair into a bun.
Her smile was attractive, not seductive. The nameboard pinned to her chudidar read ‘Dr.Kyra Keyman, Consultant Dermatologist’.
I sat in front of her. She examined my skin and advised me to use cold cream.
Aargh. You do not get a malignant melanoma when you need it.
She advised me against using cheap cold cream and told that I should be careful enough to choose a cream that will suit my skin.
I met Kyra again at the hostel. She was a new faculty at the college. She was native to Chickmagalur, a hill station in Karnataka. Later, we discovered that we lived in the same floor of the hostel and eventually we became good friends. She once suggested that we go to the Kozhikode beach on a holiday.
And we went. Together.
It was fun walking on the sand, chasing the waves, collecting seashells and making castles. Occasionally, a big wave would hit us and we would run away. We made sand castles and watched them being washed away by the waves. We sat at on the rocks and took photographs of each other. We followed the crabs to their burrows. We threw starfishes back to the sea. We ate icecreams and lay down in the sun.
We left the beach with hands full of seashells, and spot-free skin! Thanks to Kyra, I had a great day at the beach!
Blossoming Soul 