Anyone in the UK seeing a derm? ..Or on Spiro?

  • Thread starter Thread starter boozle
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boozle

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Hello all,

Obviously the majority of people on this board are Yanks, and it can be quite confusing with different drug names and medical systems so here's a question for the Brits...

Firstly, yey for the NHS, I never take free medical care for granted. I notice in America people are sent to dermatologists pretty quick, where-as here in the UK we are normally treated by our General Practitioners (GPs) who rarely forward us on to specialists.
For this reason it can be frustrating when explaining acne problems to Docs, as they all take the same route (reluctant to try anything new until you've tried every step along the way). And rarely have a huge insight into treating the conidition with a large variety of patients on a daily basis.

Has anyone in the UK been reffered to a derm? Is it worth going with Bupa or another private med. scheme to do so?

I commited the sin of buying Spironolactone on the internet a few months ago (yes, I read up on it, no I have no pre-exisiting medical conditions). My GP would kill me, but I KNOW he would never let me have it otherwise.
Has anyone in the UK been prescribed it? I gave blood the other month and when I mentioned I was taking Spiro to the nurse she was like "they let you have that!?!?" ... I lied and said yes. Though her reaction left me a little worried!
Topicals, BP, Diannette, etc.. have all worked for around a year and then stopped so I was getting really desperate! I've been suffering with moderate hormonal acne for about 7 years now!

I'm in my 4th month and have just broken out with a horrible cyst (my period is due).. when will it kick in?!

Also, how bad do you have to be in the UK before they let you have Accutane? I think that will be my next step if Spiro fails!

Thanks for listening! :)
 
I am going to see a BUPA dermatologist on Monday! I'll let you know what she says/whether it was worth going. It's costing me
 
Well I went to the dermatologist, and I was quite impressed I now have a definite plan for my skin. I'm going to try an oral antibiotic, if that doesn't work try 2 more, and if none of those work, then it's roaccutane.

I think in the UK roaccutane is definitely a last resort, I don't think your acne has to be especially bad (mine is moderate), but they will try everything else first.

To be honest, if my GP was more helpful I wouldn't have had to go to the derm at this point - she was amazed that I'd never been prescribed oral antibiotics before, as that is usually the first thing they try. So I'd recommend going, if you can afford the
 
SarahK, thanks for sharing your experience. Glad the Bupa derm visit went well, to be honest I could easily blow
 
It was a one-off fee, I'm not signed up with Bupa. Good luck with everything, be very careful with the internet Spiro! x
 
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