Comments on: Does Your Dermatologist Wear a White Coat? Does Your Aesthetician?

By: Susan Boiko

Susan Boiko — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 05:43:43 +0000

When I interviewed at the Mayo Clinic for dermatology residency in 1984, alone among the 10 programs at which I interviewed, white coats were not worn. Instead, the “uniform” for both men and women was a drab business suit, with tie and collared shirt for men. In medical school at Michigan, the ancient joke was that if you were wearing your white coat in the produce section of a supermarket and someone collapsed, “take out your pen and start marking oranges.” I remember Mayo saying the white coat was the sign of a “tradesman.”
When I was a pediatrician I never wore a white coat. I thought it frightened the children. But my (mainly elderly) dermaology patients expect a white coat. For several years my sister, a family doctor in Seattle, wore a powder blue coat, which was soothing looking but didn’t seem “doctorly.”

By: J. Gatz

J. Gatz — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:50:29 +0000

Rarely do I wear mine.
As far as I have seen, the only doctors wearing white coats on the Central Coast of California are a few Emergency Room doctors, OB/GYNs and most Community Health Center Doctors.

My Derm usually wears scrubs, my Physician is always found wearing a nice long sleeved, button down shirt with slacks and shiny black shoes. My pediatricians never wore white coats. Perhaps it is a regional taste. If wearing it gives you a sense of earned honor, then by all means please wear it. You make the white coat look good.

Personally, I don’t mind the look of the long white coat. It is reassuring, professional and looks clean but can sometimes have a generic look to it depending on the person of course.

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:04:24 +0000

Yep. I expect my doctor to be wearing the white coat and dressed professionally right down to his or her shoes.

Good job, Dr. Benabio!