Well now, let me tell ya somethin’ ’bout becomin’ one of them fancy skin doctors, the kind that makes folks look all pretty and young again. They call ’em cosmetic dermatologists, I think. Sounds like a mouthful, don’t it?
First off, you gotta go to school. A whole lotta school, I tell ya. More schoolin’ than any of my kids ever did, that’s for sure. You gotta finish that high school thing, get your diploma and all that. That’s just the start, mind you. Ain’t no gettin’ around it, you need that piece of paper.
Then comes the real hard part. You gotta go to college, what they call “undergraduate.” That’s another four years, just learnin’ all sorts of stuff. Probably science-y stuff, I reckon, if you’re gonna be a doctor. Four years! That’s a long time, sittin’ in classrooms and readin’ books. Costs a pretty penny too, I bet.
But wait, there’s more! After college, you ain’t done yet. Nope. You gotta go to somethin’ called medical school. That’s another four years, learnin’ how to be a real doctor. All about the body and sicknesses and how to fix ’em. Imagine, four more years! My grandkids would be all grown up by then!
- High School Diploma – gotta get this first
- Four Years of College – lots of learnin’
- Four Years of Medical School – even more learnin’
Now, after all that schoolin’, you’re a doctor, but you ain’t no skin doctor yet. You gotta do what they call an “internship.” That’s like on-the-job trainin’, I guess. A whole year of it. Seein’ patients and learnin’ the ropes, but still not a skin expert.
Then, and only then, you get to start learnin’ about skin. You gotta do somethin’ called a “residency” in dermatology. That’s three more years, just focusin’ on skin problems and how to make ’em better. Three whole years! That’s a long time to be lookin’ at rashes and wrinkles, let me tell ya. And if you wanna be one of them cosmetic fellas, you probably gotta learn extra stuff, like how to do them fancy procedures and such. Probably takes even longer, I reckon.
So, you add it all up: four years of college, four years of medical school, one year of internship, and three years of dermatology residency. That’s… let me see… twelve years! Twelve years of schoolin’ and trainin’! That’s a lifetime, for some folks. And maybe even more if you’re gonna be doin’ all that cosmetic stuff, like Botox and fillers and such. They didn’t have none of that when I was young, let me tell you.
And after all that, you gotta get a license to practice. More paperwork and hoops to jump through, I bet. Nothin’s ever easy, is it? And then you gotta keep learnin’, too. Medicine is always changin’, they say. New treatments and procedures all the time. So, it’s a lifelong journey, I guess. Seems like a lot of work to me, but I guess if you like fixin’ people’s skin, it’s worth it.
Now, how long does it really take? Well, like I said, twelve years of schoolin’ and trainin’ is the basic. But it ain’t always that simple. Maybe you gotta take some time off, or maybe you don’t get into the residency you want right away. So, it could take longer, maybe thirteen or fourteen years, or even more. It all depends on the person, I suppose. And how much money they got, cause all that schoolin’ ain’t cheap!
And what do they make, all these fancy skin doctors? I hear tell they make a pretty good livin’, specially them cosmetic ones. Folks will pay a lot of money to look younger, I guess. But I don’t know the exact numbers. Somewhere in California, I heard, they make the most money. Must be all them movie stars wantin’ to look good all the time.
So, in short, it takes a long, long time to become a cosmetic dermatologist. A whole lotta schoolin’, trainin’, and hard work. It ain’t for the faint of heart, that’s for sure. But if you’re willin’ to put in the time and effort, it can be a good career, I reckon. Helpin’ folks feel better about themselves, that’s a good thing, I suppose. Even if it means lookin’ at wrinkles and zits all day long.
