Dr Sandra Pather is a Dermatologist who is a Senior Specialist Consultant in Cape Town and a part-time lecturer at the University of Cape Town. She works in the Skin Cancer Multidisciplinary Team at Groote Schuur Hospital and contributes to the undergraduate and post graduate teaching programme. She also finds time to run her own private practice and that is where I consulted her in 2025 for a skin rash I had over most parts of my body, which had kept me awake for the greater part of the night for months. Even when I had been in the Tokai Melomed hospital for four days some time before I saw Dr Pather nobody there was able to sort out my rash problem.
I was taken to hospital by ambulance after I fainted at home as I was getting out of bed. It turned out that I had an inner year problem which was soon cured once I had had my ear syringed by an Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon. The Dermatologist who I believe saw me at the hospital prescribed some cream for my itch but it didn't work. So I still had it when I left the hospital.
I was aged 91 at the time I went to see Dr Pather because she had been so successful in treating the outbreak of sores on the lower part of my legs that I had had six years earlier. I saw her after my GP at the time had failed to make any impression on what was eating me up. But after consulting Sandra it was as though I had seen a magician. Within a couple of weeks my ugly wounds were healing up nicely and they were soon a thing of the past.
On my head I had what looked to me like two small blood blisters almost next to each other. The size and look of these had not changed for a year or more. She then told me I would have to have another R1 650 consultation so that she could remove samples of the cancers to be sent for examination at the laboratory. My first consultation lasted about 15 minutes and my second one was even shorter.
After the 2nd consultation when she could not give me a plausible explanation as to why she was sending two samples to the lab when she had told me I had three cancers I told her I was not going pay for any lab reports and I walked out still with the rash that had plagued me for months. Again no reference was made to my rash.
I had paid for both consultations with my credit card before I left her rooms. But shortly afterwards I was shocked to find that this practice, that does not deal with medical aids, had submitted a claim for R1 650 to my Sizwe Hosmed medical aid and had been paid. It took me a bit of time before I eventually got this refunded.
It is now about 6 months since I last saw Dr Pather and this is what my back and the top of my head look like. I got my carer to remover the two blood blisters on my head because they were ruining my modelling career and as you can see there is only a slight sign of them ever being there. As for the cancer on my back I have no idea what Dr Pather saw because apart from an obvious rash I have not had anything that could be classified as some kind or growth.
Regards, Jon
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