Northeast Alabama Dermatology

We just moved to Huntsville. Of the many dermatologist we have visited over the years she was the most through. Excellent communications and the staff was very polite. Would highly recommend
5 9 years ago (03-12-2016)

Don't go here... the first time I went in December 2015, I had an several sores on my nose that would not go away. They were embarrassing. I'd had the sores for 5 months. I thought it might be a complication for rosacea because I had been diagnosed with a mild case of it years ago. I went to Elliot Emergency Care in NH (don't go there either because they said just wash your nose and get plenty of fresh air -- when I balked he said it might be impetigo but I still did not get any medicine for it) and I went to Derry Dermatology twice: the 1st doctor there said I had herpes simplex and the 2nd one said demodex. All they did was prescribe cortisone cream. Fast forward 5 months and saw my 4th doctor. I went to Dr Musick who at least took a little flashlight and examined my nose. She did not put on gloves and do a closer exam. She prescribed ivermectin, which is used to treat dog worms. She must have thought, like the 3rd doctor I saw, that I had demodex. She preformed no tests. She gave me a sample and told me to come back in two weeks. When I went back in 2 weeks, she had her office manager throw me out of the office because I told her staff that unless she did a skin scraping, a culture, a biopsy or some sort of test to determine if I had a bacterial, fungal or parasites on my nose, I was not going to pay for the appointment . I guess that was too much to ask for a test! The office manager said Dr Musick said I should go to Birmingham. I was astonished and asked if this office could not do a test. She was squirming around and I just left, disgusted... I keep doing research (as I had been for 6 month) and finally diagnosed myself. The skin on my nose was similar to impetigo but different. It was similar to rosacea (rhinophyma) but different. It was similar to cellulitis but different. Similar to lupus pernio but different.... I kept searching and searching. FINALLY, I found it. I had erysipelas... a skin infection, not of the deep layers (dermal layer) but of the layer under the epidermis. It matched perfectly. The cure? 7 - 10 days of amoxicillin or penicilln, 500 to 1000 mgs, 3 X a day. I now dreaded going to yet a FIFTH doctor but thought maybe my GP would prescribe the medicine. My nose had been infected for SEVEN MONTHS!!! I had been to four doctors! If the 5th doctor gave me a hard time, i thought I'd go insane. My social life had been impacted for months because of my nose. I was depressed due to having sores on my nose for 7 months. So after researching some more, I found amoxicillin and penicillin for fish are human grade consumable. I had a bottle of 100 fish amoxicillin at 500 mg overnighted to me. Within 24 hours my nose greatly improved. I am sure this is the problem. It's unbelievable... FOUR doctors and I self diagnosed and bought fish penicillin... really??? Is this what the medical community has come to?? I understand people make mistakes but out of the four doctors I saw (with three of them being SKIN SPECIALISTS), not one of those doctors thought enough of my situation to do a skin scraping to analyze what was wrong. Not one doctor. As a matter of fact, when I insisted on a test at Northeast Alabama Dermatologists, I was thrown out of their office. I don't know what's going on... maybe dermatologists today just want to give botox shots or do other cosmetic procedures. It amazed me when I was searching for dermatologist how I had to week out the ones that specialized in cosmetic procedures. Thankfully, I kept researching and thank goodness fish systems cannot tolerate impurities and their antibiotics are exactly the same as human antibiotics. In the future, I am going to try to cut doctors out of my life because like Musick, they're stupid, they don't examine patients close enough and they don't take tests... Doctors also compartmentalize everything but that's a different complaint. Dr Musick, the money my insurance company & I spent at your office was wasted. You wasted my time... I'm grateful you threw me out because I cured myself. You should retire!
1 10 years ago (24-02-2016)