There are certain hazards people forgot to warn me about in medicine. I was kindly taking off some anal warts of a 20 something patient in clinic today. I was using a type of acid solution...which I informed him wouldn't hurt too bad. In this process, I suddenly had a searing, burning sensation on my leg and realized a portion of this acid had dripped onto my nice pants, thru to my leg, and quite the contrary to my previous reassurances, it DID burn! I could not just leave him in his awkward half exposed state to take care of my burn, so continued the treatment despite the pain. When I later went to the restroom to clean up and look at the damage, I was reminded of the uncanny coincidence of another medical burn on this same spot acquired exactly a year ago. That old burn, that left a slight scar, was after a 36 hour shift on call in the hospital. Not acid, but a piping hot- wait, let's call it what it was, a boiling cup of hot chocolate poured onto my scrubs before going off call.
No one warned that besides blood products crammed with viruses, cough droplets filled with bacteria and other unpleasant bodily fluids, that as a medical professional I could be harmed by acid and hot chocolate - But now I've got the scars to prove it!
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