A couple weeks ago I went to a well-known skincare clinic (which I won't name) to talk with a dermatologist about treatment options for folliculitis in my neck beard hairs which I've been dealing with for the past 4 months. To my shock, she recommended to (1) REMOVE all the hair on my neck, (2) use lasers to reduce the redness caused by the folliculitis (which is temporary), and (3) take oral antibiotics. I couldn't believe my ears! When I questioned the logic behind her approach, she got very defensive and dismissive. My assessment is that she is either very incompetent and arrogant, or she was acting irresponsibly and selfishly trying to scam me. I went to another dermotologist who actually listened to me and answered all my questions. He recommended an acne cleansing gel and nothing else. I used it twice a day in the shower for the past two weeks and now the folliculitis is completely gone. My question is, how is this skincare clinic allowed to operate??Aren't there any regulatory agencies for clinics like this one? Is it possible that my intuition is wrong and what she suggested is a sensible approach?? And lastly, what should I have said to her or what would you say to get her to think twice about what she's doing? I kept my mouth shut but many thoughts were stirring in my head...

I have a few questions about the medical system in Thailand... I recently discovered that I have a fractured bone spur in my neck which (likely) was and still is causing some serious health problems, but I had to fight with my doctors at Bangkok Hospital to get the scans I wanted which led to that discovery. An orthopedic surgeon at Bangkok Hospital told me he didn't agree with my rationale for wanting to do additional scans (an MRI using a different technique & a CT scan). Eventually, I ended up going to Bumrungrad Hospital to get a prescription from a spine surgeon for the CT scan which detected the bone spur. My question is, why can't the patient get whatever scans they want at a hospital or imaging center? Why is a doctor's prescription required? Is it like this in other countries too?

My other question is, why did multiple Thai doctors propose dangerous, invasive treatments and surgeries when asking how to diagnose the problem? They straight up said we could do the procedure, and if it works then we would know so and so was the problem... I couldn't believe what I was hearing 😳 It made me wonder how many unnecessary surgeries are performed in Thailand. Has anyone else ever experienced something similar?