Agreeing to participate in an eczema clinical trial (I’ll shorten it to ECT since it sounds more badass official) means also agreeing to being a human pin cushion and zoo attraction.
Haha- that’s only half true. Besides my daily ECT routine (read that here) I also have to make regular visits to the dermatology clinic conducting the trial in this area. In this EczeMAD vlog, I’ll show you what a typical visit is like.
The dermatologist enters and observes me up and down occasionally making “mm-hmm” noises in between asking me of my hobbies. He’s a friendly ringleader.
Before being accepted to the ECT (now the abbreviation sounds like a cult) I swore on my life to double up on birth control, vasectomies, and resist any womanly urges to get pregnant (The study didn’t want to know the affects of the ECT on babies). Uhhh… yeah… thankfully I’m waiting until my wedding (less than 100 days away!!) so I can untie my tubes for now. However, peeing in a cup is still mandatory.
Finally I take my pills for the day. They team of nurses makes sure I’m good on my lotion and sunscreen and add participation compensation to my gift card. I receive another pack of pills for the week.
I’ll probably visit the clinic a dozen times before the ECT is complete. The visits are typically similar but vary in the amount of blood drawn or times it’s drawn. My office visits have been from one hour to half a day.