It Is a Great Time to Be Alive!

Despite what you may have heard, we are living in the best of times in human history. Not long ago, I felt the sudden need for an eye exam and new glasses. The optometrist I had been seeing was booked out for 6 months, but I looked online and found several eyeglass stores in my area offering exams. This was on a Friday, and I was pleasantly surprised that one store offered me an appointment on the following Monday. I thought maybe I could do even better and found another business with online scheduling that had multiple openings that same afternoon!

After riding my electric bike to their store—electric bikes are another reason it is a truly great time to be alive—a staff member had me look into a series of high-tech machines. Then they had me sit in what seemed to be a typical eye exam room with the phoropter, the large device with all the lenses the optometrist flips through asking, “Which is better, 1 or 2?” But this time, the optometrist was not in the room with me, well, not in person. The optometrist was with me on a computer screen, still asking, “Which is better, 1 or 2?” I am not sure what state, or even what country, the optometrist was in.

I then chose from the wide assortment of frames and lens options, and I was told to expect my new glasses within about 2 weeks. Three days later, I got a call saying my glasses were ready. It was a pleasant surprise when these glasses let me see with a clarity that I do not think I have experienced before.

The digital revolution is affecting medical care, and the changes are happening rapidly as evidenced by the fabulous service I got from the eye care business I visited. Not to take away from the idea of developing a doctor-patient relationship over time, but the speed of service and the quality of the glasses left me with a good, warm feeling for this digital medical experience. I imagine our patients will have similar feelings as telemedicine services become a bigger, if not ubiquitous, part of dermatologic care delivery.

And the improvements are not only digital. This month, our cover story is on cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma and neoadjuvant, adjuvant, and intralesional immunotherapy. Our understanding of the immune system and our ability to manipulate it continue to grow. Dermatologic care has evolved rapidly over the past 20 years, and treatments for both inflammatory diseases and advanced skin cancer keep improving.

I do not think we humans will ever find our situation to be perfect. We will probably never be completely satisfied; it is not in our DNA. But this is not the time to be pessimistic, especially if we are dermatology health care providers. There may be bumps along the road, but we will see things continue to improve, too. It is also in our DNA to keep working toward making our lives better. Happy holiday season!