I had to go in to see my primary care DR for a prescription renewal that was out of date. Office requirements.
While there the DR asked about the skin on the side of my nose. I hadn't thought anything about it, but here is the DR telling me to go have it checked out.
The dermatologist's office called me saying the referral was for a photo review. They asked me to come in and see their office assistant who would send the electronic photo to the dermatologist.
The results of that were inconclusive and a follow up and in person visit was warranted. I arrived thinking they would take a quick look at my face.
I get called by an assistant and taken down a long corridor. She asked me to sit in a chair at the end of the hall and await an open exam room. There was another patient in the other chair, I'll assume doing the same thing, waiting for an exam room. She then told me the DR wanted to do a complete skin exam today and the DR had a medical trainee assisting them today.
When a clean and empty exam room opened up the assistant had me enter the room. She never closed the door and spoke to me in a loud voice that anyone down the hall could hear. She told me to remove my clothing and wear the gown with the opening in the back. She pulled the privacy curtain towards the door and left the room.
As I was just getting the gown across my chest there was a light rasp across the door with the distinct sound of the door opening. I turned my head around to see a face with long blonde hair coming through the door that was visable through the gap in the privacy curtain and the door to the hallway.
As I turn my body around to face her, she asks if I'm ready? I reply I was ready and she moved the curtain down the tracks. I had about two seconds to notice the gown was about three sizes too small for me when she told me she was the trainee and wanted to have the opportunity to do a quick check of my skin before the DR arrived in the room.
She asked me to sit on the end of the table. As I did I briefly noticed the gown was strained from my butt to my shoulders and my back was completely exposed. She placed her hand on my shoulder telling me she would lower the back and I could lay down.
She moved towards my head telling me she would start her exam going through my hair, checking my scalp. I felt the gown was a little short of my lap area and attempted to make an adjustment. She scolded me to stay still.
She finished the head examination and asked me to lift my shoulders up as she lowered the gown down my torso, still facing my head. She continued to check my skin on my neck and chest. The gown was just below my belly button area.
The door opens as the DR walks in. She looks at me, her eyes go huge. She reaches for the gown and tries to pull it down my body. It's wedged under my butt and she doesn't have the strength to release it. I'm afraid to move at all. She reaches to the top of the gown and attempts to pull it further down my body as I figure out what she is trying to do. I'm exposed to the room, with the slight covering from the top of my pubic hair to my belly button. The intern doesn't know this, or doesn't care. She continues her scan. She moves passed the hips that are ever so scarcely covered and checks my legs and feet in about seven seconds.
Meanwhile the DR is making small talk with me and asking me about today's weather. The intern says she hasn't found anything concerning yet. The DR looks at me and asks if I'm comfortable. I assume she means laying on the table? I tell her I'm fine. She slightly adjusted the gown that is now just a drape. She goes into her rehearsed discussion about proper use of sun block, exposure times, moisturizers as she scans my face and head area. The intern just stands there at my side. As the DR moves down my body she bumps into the intern who wasn't paying attention to the DR's movement and in her attempt to get out of the way she bumps into the side of the table, somehow grabbing a firm hold of the gown as she quickly backed away from the DR's intended movement along the side of the table. The gown gets ripped off of me completely. I'm now completely nude, laying on my back. The DR doesn't see the gown is gone, the intern is shocked at what she has done and looking at my nude body in horror of what has happened.
The intern drops the gown on the floor, the DR steps on it as she moves down my body. The DR glances over my nude body, then back at the intern who is now attempting to bend down to recover the gown from the floor, but the DR is still standing on a piece of it. The DR asks her intern what's going on? The intern speaks up saying she accidentally pulled the gown off of me and it fell to the floor and the DR is standing on it. The DR looks at the floor, attempts to kick the gown across the room but gets tangled up in the fabric. The intern is trying not to get kicked in the face when the DR tells her to just leave it there now. The patient has already stated he was comfortable and they would continue on with the skin exam.
The intern stood up and opens the cabinet to grab another gown and the DR tells her not to bother at this point.
They continue the skin examination down my now nude body. She gets close to my groin and lifts my penis, twists it around, adjusted her grip and repeats the process. She lays my penis pointing up and digs around my testicles. I flinched a bit, she apologized and moves on asking me to lift my knees and spread them open. She lowers my right leg and peaks under my testicles. I can see the intern is following along by weaving her head around, staring at what the DR is checking. She asks me to lower my legs back on the table and walks down to my feet. She closely looks over every crevice of my toes and scans back up the other side. When she gets back to the groin area she has me lift up my knees again and spread them. She repeats her close examination of my testicles and penis. The Dr moves up the side of the table completing with another check of my head and hair areas.
She tells me to stand up so they can check the backside. So I stand up and see the intern now has access to the gown on the floor, she grabs it and tosses it in the used bin next to the counter. The DR then asks me to lay face down on the table. After I do I hear them discussing the importance of checking all of the patient's skin, as they spread my butt cheeks and press my upper thighs apart. After about a minute or two of them scanning other areas of my backside the DR tells me to stand back up.
I stood there, completely nude, with no gown around and thought maybe I should use my shirt to cover myself when the DR adjusted the flat table into a chair, asking me to sit back down. She then talks to the intern about her findings and what to look for, how to spot different skin issues and the importance of patient education. All while I'm nude, sitting about one foot from them.
They tell me I'm good to go for another six months and I should return to repeat this skin exam with them. They open the door to the hallway, telling me to get dressed, and they exit the room.