Sweet Holey Pillow Dreams

"A doctor who treats himself has a fool for a patient." – Sir William Osler.

Sorry, Bill. I completely disagree. Whether or not you're a physician, you must be your own primary screener, diagnostician, therapist, and triage agent every day for the promotion of your own health, prevention of disease, and making an early diagnosis.

As we age, we gain additional opportunities to experience new and different diseases. Any good physician learns much from our patients, and even more from our own health.

I've gotten a lot of sun exposure during my life and not always with sunscreen. So when the superior aspect of my right external ear got red and a little swollen, it bothered me. Over days and weeks, it became a bit painful and seemed to "point," then drained some white material and healed up. Okay, maybe an odd staph infection. I thought nothing more about it.

Whoops. The lesion recurred in the helix of the right pinna after a few months and got worse in May 2021.

Figure 1. Right ear lesion

The thing about successfully being your own physician is honestly knowing and admitting what you don't know, recognizing that, and then confronting yourself about it.