Dr Ashley Bourgeois shares her favorite (and the most challenging) part of dermatology

Known as "The Derm Vet," it's no secret that Ashley Bourgeois, DVM, DACVD, is passionate about veterinary dermatology. In a dvm360® interview, she shared the chronic nature of dermatology diseases helps strengthen her relationships with clients, however, this also can make the cases difficult to treat. At the end of the day, it's worth it to help these pet owners with companion animals suffering from skin conditions.

Bourgeois will be the keynote speaker on day 2 of the dvm360 Fetch Conference in Kansas City, Missouri.

The following is a partial transcript of the video.

Ashley Bourgeois, DVM, DACVD: I think my favorite part is really seeing the clients understand and get it. You know, a lot of times they come in and we deal with chronic diseases for the most part. So oftentimes, they're coming to us because they've had years of going through the management of skin disease or ear disease, and really just taking the time to educate them on here's our options. Here's what our expectations are, I need you on my team through all this to tell me what's going on at home. We're going to have flares, here's how we're going to react to that. Seeing that click when they become part of that team for their pet with us, I think is like my favorite thing. And dealing with the long term nature of allergies and skin disease, we really get to know our clients. So, a lot of times we know things about their personal lives, they know things about us. And it's just really fun to kind of have that team mentality because of the chronic nature of what we deal with.

I would say probably one of the more difficult parts is the chronic nature of what we deal with. So, sometimes that can be really difficult, especially in cases that are tough. I mean, we get cases even as specialists that we have a hard time with. And sometimes that owner can really be on our team and with us and work with us, and sometimes it can be very frustrating for them. So, I'd say it's a double-edged sword. We get to know them because we deal with chronic diseases. But on the flip side, if they're tough cases that we're struggling to manage, that can be really disheartening for the owner, too.

The Fetch Kansas City will Conference will be taking place from August 25-27, 2023. Register here.