Thanks for clearing up my dermatology misconceptions, mrjellyfish.

That Prednisone is some wicked stuff. This weekend a good friend of mine had to take some Prednisone for her slipped disk and she broke out into a severe rash and had to be hospitalized.

I haven’t had a chance to talk to her, nor do I think she’ll be amused by the irony that I had to take it to clear up my rash while it made her btreak out into one.

On a more positive note, the steroid boost has dramatically improved my batting practice homerun ratio and the NY Yanks have decided to give me a second look.

Oh yes! I could sing the praises of Prednisone every day for a year. It has saved my life a lot of times during severe lupus flare-ups. Of course, it has also induced schizophrenic episodes, but hey, ya’ gotta take the bad with the good, right?

Actually, dermatology is currently the most attractive and competitive specialty for new physicians, and attracts many of the very best students in medicine. Most of the applicants test in the top 10% of their class, and more than a quarter are in the top 1%. And only 60 percent of those applicants got a residency and were able to become dermatologists! These figures are from the journal article The academic strength of current dermatology residency applicants and the New York Times articleFor Top Medical Students, an Attractive Field.

So your Pimple Popper M.D. was almost certainly one of the elite students of his medical school class. Surprising, perhaps, but all but inevitable given the incentive structure of the medical system.

Glad to hear you are all cleared up and rocking the ‘roids. And stop cleaning your meat slicer with your washcloth.

Muzak (the company) actually filed for bankruptcy recently so we may see elevator rampages yet.