If you’ve ever seen a headline about a breakthrough skincare ingredient or a new cosmetic procedure and wondered why Dr. Dupati hasn’t mentioned it … this post is for you.
The answer is simple: He waits for the evidence.
The Problem with “Promising”
Medicine moves fast, and dermatology is no exception. New treatments, devices, and products emerge constantly and the marketing around them often moves even faster than the science. Words like “clinically tested,” “doctor-approved,” or “shown to improve skin” sound reassuring, but they can mean very little without the right kind of study behind them.
The gold standard in medicine is the randomized controlled trial, or RCT. In an RCT, patients are randomly assigned to either receive a treatment or not and neither the patient nor often the physician knows who got what until the study is complete. This design is specifically built to eliminate bias and confounding factors, so that when a treatment appears to work, we can be confident it actually does.
Without that, we’re often just guessing and guessing with your health is not something Dr. Dupati is willing to do.
Two Things Dr. Dupati Needs to Know Before He Recommends Anything
Before Dr. Dupati recommends a medication or procedure to a patient, he needs the evidence to answer two questions:
Does it work? Anecdotes, before-and-after photos, and even small pilot studies can be misleading. A treatment might appear to help when the real explanation is that the condition improved on its own, or that patients who felt better were simply more likely to report improvement. RCTs are designed to separate real effects from noise.
Is it safe? Every treatment, even a topical cream,Β carries some risk. RCTs track adverse effects systematically, so we know not just whether something works, but what the tradeoffs are. A treatment that is modestly effective but carries serious side effects may not be worth recommending, especially when safer options exist.
What This Means for You as a Patient
It means that when Dr. Dupati recommends something, he means it. You won’t hear him suggest a treatment because it’s trending, because a pharmaceutical rep mentioned it, or because a colleague had a few good anecdotes. You’ll hear about it because peer-reviewed evidence, ideally from more than one well-designed trial . supports both its safety and its effectiveness for your specific condition.
It also means Dr. Dupati may occasionally say “I don’t know yet” or “the evidence isn’t strong enough for him to recommend this.” That’s not a limitation, that’s honesty. And he believes you deserve honesty more than you deserve enthusiasm.
A Note on Patience
Dr. Dupati understands this approach can sometimes feel frustrating, especially when you’ve read about something that sounds promising or seen results on a friend. New treatments are exciting, and hope is a powerful thing. But the history of medicine is filled with treatments that looked promising and turned out to be ineffective … or worse, harmful. Waiting for rigorous evidence protects you from becoming part of that history.
When the science is there, Dr. Dupati will be the first to tell you about it.
The Bottom Line
Dr. Dupati’s job is not just to offer you options, it’s to offer you the right options, backed by evidence, and tailored to your individual situation. That’s the standard he holds himself to, and it’s the standard you should expect from any physician you trust with your care.
If you ever have questions about why Dr. Dupati recommended (or not recommended) a particular treatment, he encourages you to ask. He’s always happy to walk through the evidence with you.
Call us at 248-436-4888 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Arjun Dupati.
π Call Apollo Dermatology atΒ 248-436-4888.
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π Apollo Dermatology | Rochester HIlls, Michigan
By Dr. Arjun Dupati, Board-Certified Dermatologist and Fellowship-Trained Mohs Surgeon
