Yesterday I went for my regular follow up visit to Dr. Marvin Rapaport office at his Beverly Hills, CA office. He is probably a man in his 70s who shares his practice with his daughter, Dr. Vicki Rapaport. He is an old school east coaster. However, he has had his practice on the west coast, I believe, for the majority of his career. He doesn’t believe in treating lab tests, so he is not inclined to order them. He believes in reviewing the client’s history and symptoms. He is pretty firm with his opinions based on his years of experience and the more than 3000 red skin patients he has treated. Of which he states all of them have come to 100% cure from Red Skin Syndrome.
The last 4 times I have visited his office, I have sat in the waiting room with other Red Skin patient. They have all been children, 3 toddlers and 1 teenager. Their parents sit with them, soothing them, holding them, coddling them with distressed and tired looks on their faces. All of the children within the first year off of topical steroids. It is a reminder of where I once was.
Yesterday, I told the young Asian parents of a small toddler aged boy that I too was a Red Skin patient and that I have been off of steroids 46 months. I told them I once looked like their boy but have reached some level of more stable relief though I am not yet cured. The mother looked at me very seriously with a hopeful desperation and asked “do you really believe that all of this is because of the steroids?”. I replied very seriously with an affirmative “yes”.
eczemancipated 