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sarabee1995 i don't know if you saw my note. when i went to the dermatologist recently, i got up the nerve, previously thought it might sound pervy and/or that i should know the answer as a physician, does melanoma, the worst form of skin cancer, not arise in areas that do not see the light of day? He said why do i ask, that yes it does. I mentioned that he has never examined my genital area. His reaction was one, melanoma does arise on occasion in that area and said that is why he takes peeks by moving my underwear around. He said that he knows of a case of a woman who died from melanoma which was all over her body at the time of death, but none appeared to be the primary. That was found after her death, to be located between her buttocks.
His comment was that he assumes, possibly incorrectly, that women see their GYNs at least yearly and he assumed their GYN would do a skin examination. He also says that men examine themselves all the time and don't wait if they see anything. In my case, he has rarely actually found a lesion before bringing it to his attention, and I do have an abnormality on my scrotum, that i once had him, and my urologist, examine, called angiokeratosis.
In the US we rate the visit after each physician visit, to a rating service. His comment is that if he required all patients to be totally nude, he knows he would get a terrible review that would hurt his bottom line.
He did not have me take off my underwear on that visit, did examine me a little better than before. BTW, he was once one of the medical students studying medicine on my service in medical school.
