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Sarah Bermudez

Mrs. Smith

Advanced Composition

26 January 2021

Career Research Essay

The Career Field that I have selected for myself is dermatology. Dermatology began in the

18th century, from then the subject of skin and the disorders was known by many names. Before

its finalized name, dermatology was referred to as “dermology”. “Not long ago, in 1898, Bulkley

wrote in the beginning of the very first chapter of his famous book “Manual of Diseases of the

Skin:” (Mukhopadhyay, Amiya). A couple years ago, I began to become interested in

Dermatology when I was struggling with my acne.

Currently in the United States it’s estimated that there are 372,400 Dermatologist. Current

trends relating to Dermatology are in social media apps such as YouTube

and Tiktok, where videos of pimple popping, and cysts are being removed. The best state to

work as a Dermatologist is Iowa. “The Midwest has a great ratio of high-paying dermatology

jobs to low cost of living.” (“Where are the best paying jobs for dermatologists?”). Consultation

is handled with issues including skin checks, drug reactions and changing of the mole, etc.

Although, patients visit Dermatologist for acne concerns, they also do specific duties in which

they receive patients who are having early stages of skin cancer. “Some patients present with rare

dermatological conditions and occasionally patients will require a skin biopsy.” (“A day in the

Life of a Dermatologist”). Before, becoming a Dermatologist you will have to complete eight

years of studying and year of internship with an afterwards “three years of residency, working

alongside experienced doctors and completing 12,000 to 16,000 hours of treating patients.”
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(“What is a Dermatologist?”). Although, many people work for about eight hours a day, a usual

schedule working day for a Dermatologist would run about eight to ten hours. The numbers of

hours working for a month may increase because they “will also have administrative duties like

business meetings that often add on 5-10 hours a month to the work schedule.” (“The Daily Life

of a Dermatologist”).

There is no age requirement to become a Dermatologist, but a twelve year of training is

required to become a doctor for this field. Empathy, compassion and curiosity are important

traits to have when becoming a skin doctor. Recently, I have toked a Sixteen Personality Test,

and I believe I have important traits for my future career. My personality being a defender

personality isfj-a /isfj-t, it is said to be that “defenders take all this support, reliability and

imagination and apply it to something they believe will make a difference in people’s lives.”

“People with this personality type strive for win-win situations, choosing empathy over judgment

whenever possible.” (“Defender”). Required aptitudes needed to become a dermatologist is

strong academic ability in math, science, and English. The education level required to major in

this field would be four years of college to earn a bachelor’s degree, along with four years of

medical school, then a year in internship, and finally you can then do a three-year dermatology

residency program. The most common methods of entry into this career is biology or chemistry.

Entering into this field, I would like to start studying Chemistry because it’s acknowledged as

one of the best science focused subject and it will help create a strong foundation.

It is expected you can make on average $322,080 per year working as a skin doctor depending

on how long you have been working. Starting out, you can begin making a salary of $256,233 a

year. Only an exceptional salary would be about $124,032 a year. When becoming a
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dermatologist, the expenses can be quiet high ranging from $35,218 to $59,339 for dermatology

school.

Necessary training for this job, you could go to for a Dermatology Residency Program

include schools such as Baylor University Medical Center, Campbell University, Medical

College of Georgia, etc. Some scholarships you could apply for are Valeant Dermatology

Scholarship and Medical Society Medical Student Scholarship. As for loans you could also

receive, would be a small business loan with the help.

Although, working as a dermatologist gives you a great amount of income, there are also

other benefits you can receive from the career. One benefit you can receive while working is

being self-employed. Another, example of a benefit is you could also receive is “dermatologists

do not have to cover hospital patients on a rigorous call schedule like some other types of

physicians do.” (Santiago, Andrea). Potential hazards you can receive while on duty are

unpleasant patients and may be in contact with contaminated hazardous situations. Additionally,

a hazardous task that you will have to do is having to be precise on the performance of your job.

There are a couple ways you can advance in the field of dermatology. Some of the ways you

could advance is becoming board certified. After becoming board certified, you can then do a

year of training to advance skills on diagnosing or examining skin disease. Additional training to

become a Dermatopathology, Mohs surgery, and a Pediatric dermatologist. Additional duties are

required when becoming a Mohs surgeon, such as cancer-containing skin are removed and then

examined. Duties that are done within Dermatopathology are more complicated with the skin

disease being examined at a microscopic level. Lastly, Pediatric dermatologist experts in the

correct diagnosis and of childhood skin diseases.

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After studying this career in depth, I have learned a great amount. Even though the twelve-

year process of studying to becoming a dermatologist is very time worthy. I think this career

field is something you should be passionate about. Putting me off a bit with the amount of

education needed, I still feel very passionate and eager to learn more on this career choice.

Studying our bodies really interest me because the skin is a large organ in the human anatomy,

and I personally think the education will be worth it. This career helps people to feel better and

help with their concerns and I love that because with each person there are different problems!

Not only I get to be paid well, you can also in the process make people happy. Once I’m

passionate about something I won’t let go of it, and this is one of it.