Is Being required to strip naked for medical check up common?

Just a thought, but maybe a reason for not requiring all or some clothing removed in a visit is because it lessens the amount of time a patient has to spend in an exam room, thus allowing doctors to see more patients too?

Just a thought, but maybe a reason for not requiring all or some clothing removed in a visit is because it lessens the amount of time a patient has to spend in an exam room, thus allowing doctors to see more patients too?

That may have something to do with it if doctors work solo, without any assistants, nurses or whatever.

Otherwise, the classic scenario is the attendant/nurse comes to get you, brings you to an exam room, tells you to undress to whatever degree and then you wait for the doc to come. Sometimes for a considerable amount of time, maybe long enough to catch a cold or whatever ... ha ha.

And also, many docs have patients wear a gown. So that means that time isn't the main consideration, as putting on a gown adds yet more time to the whole undressing scenario and moreover adds extra costs for gowns and washing.

I'd put the main reason for change down to evolving social mores, perceptions and expectations. Because you must surely have noticed how the whole of (western) society is becoming more prudish and has been doing so since the turn of the century.

Growing up it was the norm for me when I went to the pediatrician. Never afforded the luxury of having to keep my underwear on. Always told to undress completely from the start. Just my experience.

I'd put the main reason for change down to evolving social mores, perceptions and expectations. Because you must surely have noticed how the whole of (western) society is becoming more prudish and has been doing so since the turn of the century.

Yeah no doubt that is more than likely the main reason. I think I've said this in the past, but I personally feel like if I'm not asked to at least remove something, I'm almost not getting a complete exam.

Kind of

When I was a child, when I went to the pediatrician, you had to undress and keep only your underwear from the beginning of the medical examination. In the end they made you remove or lower your underpants for the penis and testicles exam.

When I was 12 or 13 years old, I had to go to the doctor and they gave me a complete exam, with my underpants on, but there was a medical student, a woman, along with my regular doctor and the truth was that I was very ashamed when I took off underwear and expose my genitals.

I've never been asked to literally strip naked for a medical, but have ended up with my shirt pulled up to my chest and my trousers and underwear pulled down to my ankles, so as good as naked!

I've never been asked to strip naked for a medical check up. I've had one time in my 20s when the doctor gave me a gown and specified no socks and no underwear underneath it, but the gown was never totally off. My pediatric exams up to age sixteen always were in just underpants, which the doctor lowered but didn't remove.

The only time I've ever been completely naked head to toe in a check up was when I was 13. The usual exam was over, and my mom mentioned to the doctor that I had seen another doctor a few months earlier for pityriasis rosea, which is similar to chicken pox, so the doctor had me get back up on the table and lie down so he could check my skin for scarring. At that point, he pulled my underpants completely off. I don't know why, since he and my mom had just seen my penis and testicles a few minutes earlier in the normal exam, but it felt really different being completely naked on the exam table. Maybe it was the worry that if someone else came in, I couldn't quickly cover up? But that memory definitely stands out in my mind.

During the years I was in school, dressing down to just undershorts and socks was the usual rule; same for my draft physical in the winter of 1970-71, and I was expected to "gown up" for a couple of hospital procedures.

But most of the physicals I've had since then, usually employment-related, didn't require removing any clothing above the belt. If a check for hernia, etc. was required, the MD would simply pull my jockeys down a short distance, for a short moment. On one or two occasions, my prostate was checked "digitally", but these were the exceptions, rather than the rule.

Nope. Never. Not even during my enlistment physical - and I still recall all those movies in which the young bucks line up naked to be seen by the pecker checker.

I've never had an exam when I've been naked all the way through, just been stripped down to my boxers, but always end up naked when they ask me to remove them for the genital exam.

I have never been completely naked at any time during a physical examination. I have started exams in the following degrees of dress in my life: completely dressed, shirt off but everything else on, stripped to only underpants, stripped to underpants with gown on. Regardless of the extent of undress at the start of an exam, my genitalia have always been exposed for inspection and examination at some point during the course of the exam.

Always was examined nude up through high school. Today there is more emphasis on modesty. Not sure how common it is now to be examined nude.

Nice story @Jono9

The wife has to strip fully every month for a check-up regarding a skin condition

The most exposure I've ever had was bottomless, or shirtless. Never both.

The most "undressed" I ever had to present myself for a physical exam was remove my shirts, pants and socks for the doctor and then lay back on the table in my underwear. Interestingly at this particular exam the underwear was never completely removed but one hand lifted the elastic band up and outwards while the other hand methodically examined my inner thighs and genitals.

I find it funny when patients come to our sexual health clinic and then are surprised when we ask them to get naked from the waist down. Allot of guys give me a shocked look when I ask them to strip down. I mean they have sex and that's why they are at the clinic, you wouldn't think it would be a surprise that we need to have a close look at everything.

I can remember that from age 4 to age 19 my clothes were always removed for a medical check up. This was usually done by a parent or a female nurse. I was nude when they measured my weight and height, gave me a brief exam or an in depth exam, when giving me an shot in my bare bottom, which often caused a painful sensation due to a large needle, and when giving me a suppository or enema. I would feel embarrassed when I was nude and being observed by medical staff members. Over time this caused me to became submissive during the exams. As a college age student, I was either nude or was wearing white briefs which at some point in the exam were usually pulled off of me. As an adult, I have had medical check ups where I was nude, wearing white briefs, wearing a paper gown that opened in the back, bare chested, and wearing clothes. I find it interesting as an adult that if I have a woman doctor, that during the part of the exam where I am nude or my white briefs are taken off of me, that a female nurse has to be in the room. This has made me feel uncomfortable when the nurse stares at my bare body or has an amused look on her face during an examination of my penis and testicles or during a digital rectal exam. I have never had to have a female nurse present in the room when I was examined by a woman who was a physician's assistant, including a genital exam and rectal exam. I had good rapport with her and was glad that she did not have a female nurse in the room to observe me. Has anyone had a similar experience?

I was always naked for my annual exams until the advent of Obamacare when I ended up with a female doctor and ARNP. All she does is a quick listen to my chest over my shirt. The old family doc had me in there naked for 20 minutes or so. I figured it was so he could look me over good for anything that might be wrong. Now if I want to be sure my skin gets examined I have to ask and they give me an appointment with another doctor --- more$$$$.

I was always naked for my annual exams until the advent of Obamacare when I ended up with a female doctor and ARNP. All she does is a quick listen to my dchest over my shirt. The old family doc had me in there naked for 20 minutes or so. I figured it was so he could look me over good for anything that might be wrong. Now if I want to be sure my skin gets examined I have to ask and they give me an appointment with another doctor --- more$$$$.

That is true, but a dermatologist is better trained in identifying skin disease than a GP. Same with other specialists. I view my PCP as the quarterback who determines the BEST course of action and coordinates and monitors my treatments. My doc has looked at some skin tags and said not to worry, but you better get that rone looked at by a Dermatologist. Most, if not all is Covered under Medicare.

@Jono9 Wow. I almost came reading your post!

That is true, but a dermatologist is better trained in identifying skin disease than a GP. Same with other specialists. I view my PCP as the quarterback who determines the BEST course of action and coordinates and monitors my treatments. My doc has looked at some skin tags and said not to worry, but you better get that rone looked at by a Dermatologist.

It also means I won't be getting the exam because I can't afford it. I wonder how many other old people don't get a decent physical for the same reason?

Most, if not all is Covered under Medicare.

Medicare must be different in different states. Here it pays part of it. If you can afford to pay for the extra insurance to go with it it pays for more. They also get around that low Medicare payment by using doctors that don't participate in Medicare so you get billed for the WHOLE amount.

I’ve had a similar experience to this recently being required to strip to underwear for the exam and then fully naked for genitals.

\Medicare must be different in different states. Here it pays part of it. If you can afford to pay for the extra insurance to go with it it pays for more. They also get around that low Medicare payment by using doctors that don't participate in Medicare so you get billed for the WHOLE amount.

Makes me wonder the effect of Obamacare on the insistence of male modesty, lack of hernia exams and other things during annual physicals, etc......

No, not at all. Its fun to think that we would experience the same naked exam as all the pictures that are posted. I have never experienced a totally naked exam and asking several of my gay doctor friends if they require guys to be naked and neither they nor any of their colleagues would require it. Obviously its to risky.

I cannot speak for the rest of the world, but I am often naked in exams and conduct intensive medicals with the patient nude. It is done because it is more practical, the various parts of the body is more accessible, and you get an overall view of the patients condition.

I’ve never been asked to strip completely for any exam. Usually if the doctor needs to see my entire body they still let me keep on my underwear until the doctor is ready to do the genital/rectal part. Would love to experience a complete physical nude once. Getting my bp checked, height measured, etc while being nude would ad a lot of suspense.

Don't know if it is required to strip naked today given a shift towards patient privacy. But growing up in the early 70s was definitely required. Was stripped nude all the way through high school.

I have had to strip naked and wear a gown or strip to my briefs. At some point, the briefs either had to be lowered or removed. The latter is far more intimidating and memorable for me. There is an enormous sense of vulnerability then; not sure how it is so dramatically different from my briefs being yanked to my knees or ankles but it is. I think I can't be the only one who reacts to this with a sense of anxiety and shyness as I am fully and utterly exposed having my most private areas examined and probed. The snap of the glove, the universal sign of more intimate touching, gets me every time.