TRISH
Hello, listeners. It’s Trish Hammond here from the Transforming Bodies podcast. And today, I’m joined by the delightful Dr Ritu. Now Dr Ritu is a specialist dermatologist. Now I’ve been to her rooms in Ultimo, and they are just absolutely stunning.
And today, I can have a bit of a chat about something a bit different because I’ve been following Dr Ritu for ages and I’ve just noticed, you know, a bit of an evolution in what she practises. So today we’re gonna have a bit of a chat about it and what she does. So welcome Dr Ritu.
How are you?
DR RITU
Thank you, Trish. Lovely to be here. Thanks very much. Very well.
TRISH
Excellent. Yeah. So nice. I have a chat with you. So tell me so you’re a specialist, dermatologist.
Yes. Before we start, just tell us a little bit about your training because I know that you guys trained forever, and not everybody knows that. Can you tell us a little bit about your training, how you decided to choose dermatology?
DR RITU
Oh, Golly. That’s a long story. But, yes, no, we did train forever, so it took eighteen years to become a dermatologist from med school. Do first qualifying. So it’s been a long, long time since that was a couple of years of junior medical training.
Then I did a PhD, which is sort of one of the sort of avenues for getting on to the dermatology training centre. My pathology was in vitamin D and some protection. So I spent a lot of time crying over a cell culture cabinet, cutting up little neonatal four skins into 5 by 5 millimetre squared, so my cells were getting infected every week.
TRISH
But anyway, I went, oh,
DR RITU
I learned a lot, and I used the skills that I learned in that PhD every day. And then I did my training. I did my training. I did one year part time over two years because I had my second child while training. But I was actually the first dermatologist in Australia to have two kids while training.
So that was tough.
TRISH
Definitely pretty tough I’m scared. It’s like that would be pretty tough.
DR RITU
And then I have my third just as I’ve finished. So so, yes, so three kids down and then finally ready to kind of start my working life eighteen years in. So here I am now.
TRISH Amazing. And so dermatology encompasses, you know, you know, skin, of course. Yeah. And I know that you’re not only treating the face, but you also treat the body aesthetically as well. Can you tell us a little bit about, like, Well, tell us about what you do, like, and why not just like, it’s not just the face.
Is it the skin that is met? It’s the biggest organ.
DR RITU
Well, yeah, that’s right. And I think I think actually the general public doesn’t realise. I mean, dermatologists are the only specialists in skin hair and nails. So, you know, that’s what we train for. So we know skin hair and nails back to front, and the back sort of stopped with us in the past, just are not really doing a lot of management of the body.
But certainly, in the U. S. And in the UK, it’s a very big thing. It’s about pelvic health and wellness, it’s about muscle preservation and muscle strength because it’s all intimately related to the skin and also to ageing. So I like to think that, you know, I’m I’m very proud of the fact actually that I think a patient can come, I can even medically if that’s what they’re there for, I can treat their psoriasis, I can diagnose their melanoma, cut it out, and then I can also treat them from a point of view of making them look and feel better, feel more refreshed, be more healthy in terms of their their fitness and their strength.
So we can be a one stop shop for everything. Mhmm.
TRISH
And you know what? That makes a lot of sense because I think as a patient, it’s nice to actually align yourself with the clinic that doesn’t just do one thing. You know what I mean? Why go here and for that and here for that when it’s all in the same kind of wellness scope, I guess, for one of the better words? So it really appeals to me.
And again,
DR RITU
I mean, I also think that, you know, if you do see lots of different people, then it’s a bit like a jigsaw. You know, you don’t have it, it’s a bit like if you have a good GP. If you have a good GP, they’re enthusiastic. They know everything about you and they coordinate what happens. So I’m not saying I do everything.
Of course, I don’t do face lifts. And you know, if people are surgical candidates, I’m more than happy to refer them, but I’ll give them names, I’ll write to the plastic surgeon. Saying if they need a hair transplant, etcetera. But I think it is good to be able to just put your trust in someone. They know you back to France, and they can look up to you.
And if it’s something that’s not in the realms of their expertise, they’ll say so, which is what we do. Yep. Well, that makes a lot
TRISH
of sense too. And so to me, how did you because I know that you’re into, like, pelvic health and wellness and and actually, we’ll take one at a time. So I was gonna talk about pelvic health and wellness and muscle preservation. But let’s start with the pelvic health and wellness because I know that you, like, like, I know that you’ve got a plethora of devices there and, like, you know, you can treat pretty much anything. But tell me, how did you Like, what gave you that interest?
How did you naturally kind of gravitate towards that?
DR RITU
Well, look, I suppose we’ve got a vaginal laser back in about 2018. So it’s a long time ago now, really. I suppose partly because I’m a woman and I see a lot of women with, you know, there’s a lot of haematological conditions that occur in the vulvar and things like normal common garden variety stuff like eczema, dermatitis, psoriasis, folliculitis, which sort of, you know, like people might think of ingrown hair. And then there’s specific vocal conditions, rare things like liposclerosis. And one of the things that really struck me is that, you know, it sucks.
Women just suffer through this stuff. Women will often come in. They’ve had these problems for ten years. They’re not able to have sexual relations. They’re in pain.
They’re extremely dry, all of this. And no one has even examined them. Let alone them to the right specialists. So many of them are being incorrectly prescribed, you know, topical estrogen and other things, which are not actually the right treatment for those particular concerns because no one’s even had a look. And often it’s actually because the poor woman herself has just felt too embarrassed to talk about it.
Yeah. I really feel that, you know, it’s time that this stuff comes out of the shadows. And I see that menopause is really having a moment and that people aren’t talking about this. And it’s not just women. It’s men’s pelvic health as well, you know, men are living longer just like women are.
So many men are living with prostate cancer, post prostatectomy, most men wouldn’t even know where their pelvic floor is on how to do a pelvic floor exercise.
TRISH
Yeah.
DR RITU
And then women are spending, you know, often twenty five years in the postmenopausal state. So there’s so many different manifestations postmenopausally on the skin, on the hair, on the nails, on the muscle. So I suppose it was just kind of a natural progression from having that laser and using that very successfully on women who had issues such as vaginal dryness, chronic thrush, laxity or looseness of the vaginal canal, and then moving from that into also having another device that strengthens the pelvic floor. So eleven thousand contractions of the pelvic floor when you’re sitting there fully closed. And also because I myself having had the three kids, as I said, I was noticing just some mild symptoms, what they call stress urinary symptoms, so that if I were to jump on a trampoline with the kids or something, wouldn’t really actually be very fun. And so then I had it myself and it was life changing.
You know, fantastic. I had it two years ago, twice a week for three weeks, not very expensive. And I’m still great.
TRISH
Wow.
DR RITU
So I just think that well, yeah, people don’t talk about it. People don’t, that’s really the problem. And then secondly, people don’t even think of going to see a dermatologist about this stuff. So I think education is important, and I am planning to potentially speak at the Australian menopause society, you know, to talk about this. And I’m also just, you know, discussing with my sort of referring base of GPs about this just to educate them that, you know, we do have this ability to treat these problems.
TRISH
Yep. You know, because I remember when like I said, it’s only been a few years. Hasn’t that people have been openly comfortable to talk about the problems that we just have yeah. Because before that, it was absolutely taboo. You know, there’s no doubt about it.
But tell us a bit about the devices that you have for that. And, like, are there any contraindications? Like, you know, like, if because, like, for example, I’ve had back surgery, so I’ve got like, a couple of plates in my back. So I can’t have that treatment, though, can I?
DR RITU
No. It depends. So you can’t have you can’t I mean, the public floor chair operates. So it’s high intensity focused electromagnetic contractions. So basically, it’s a magnet, which means that you can’t have it if you’ve got a pacemaker.
You can’t have it if you’ve got an implantable electrical device of any type like a defibrillator. But not that many people have that. In terms of metal, if there’s any metal in the actual area of the pelvic floor, then you can’t have it. But otherwise, the metal plate in your back is fine.
TRISH
Okay.
DR RITU
Because Okay. Enough that it’s not an issue. So essentially, what we’re doing with that when people are positioned properly and we’re using the right sorts of protocols is that we’re activating a whole of the sling of the pelvic floor. So that’s the area between the vagina or the base of the penis going through to the anus of the perineum and all areas around that. So people should feel that contraction in all of that area, but it’s not extending up to your back and it’s not going down your legs unless you’re not positioned properly.
TRISH
Oh, okay. So basically, if I had, like, problems with, you know, a bit of leakage or, you know, painful sex or in a not enough location, whatever I can come in and virtually sit down and have a treatment that takes how long?
DR RITU
28 minutes.
TRISH
Oh, my goodness. 28 minutes. And Yep. And I can be like, healed forever? Or is there a cause of treatment?
Or is there a maintenance thing? Or how does it actually work?
DR RITU
Look, I think it depends on what I mean, everything starts with the diagnosis. So it depends on what the cause is. If the issue is vaginal dryness, then it would be better to use the vaginal laser because that will resurface the whole of the vaginal canal. But again, we often will do a combination where people, particularly with menopause, women may have problems of looseness, urinary stress, or urge symptoms, plus vaginal sinus because they all go hand in hand. So then it bodes because the two things together will do different things, but they will also help each other.
They’ll be synergistic. So usually, it’s a course of treatment. And then what I have done is, I mean, the ageing is ongoing. If you don’t use muscles, obviously, they get weak again, but they’re not going to go back to what they were. So if you maintain your own pelvic floor sizes you can certainly do that.
But the other thing that I’ve done, because I think it’s such a great modality, great treatment for patients is that we now have a pelvic floor membership program, where patients can, I mean, once a month for less than a hundred dollars and have a pelvic floor treatment? So they can have eleven thousand contractions done once a month. So that’s going to maintain the pelvic floor at a really good strong firm level ongoing
TRISH
What a good idea? I love that idea because it’s true. I guess it’s like going to the gym. You know what I mean? It’s the vagina gym.
Yeah. Because it’s a pelvic floor gym.
DR RITU
Yeah. Well, we also combine it because, you know, when you think of your core and I was at the physio and myself the other day, when you think of your core, it’s really like the cylinder that goes from your belly button down to just below your hips. So often we will combine it with another device to strengthen the muscles of the abdominal wall, the front of the abdomen. Because there’s sort of three or four layers of muscles there, and the main muscle that contributes to our core is the transversus abdominis, which is the deepest muscle. But the grouping is because of the depth of penetration of these seven centimetres, So you can lie there and have twenty thousand contractions, super maximal contractions done in your abdominal wall in thirty minutes.
And in addition to that, it’ll reduce some fat as well. So this is not a weight loss mechanism, but what it is is it’s gonna build muscle by twenty five percent and reduce that by thirty percent so then you can make a membership program for that as well where you can maintain it. But the people who do best are, obviously, the people who are also combining this with good water intake and healthy diet and lifestyle. That’s true.
TRISH
It’s not a quick fix for anything. It’s part of the solution, like the program solution, I guess.
DR RITU
Well, you can’t sort of, you know, go to the gym and then eat McDonald’s and think that you’ll be kind or or go to the dentist and then not brush teeth at home. There’s this Mhmm. And of the stuff that the patients themselves have to do. I think the other thing that’s really good is that, you know, we can treat multiple different areas. So I’m talking about the front of the tummy, but we can treat the thighs, we can treat the arms.
And some of the things that I’ve learned myself just in the last twelve months really as the studies have come out from the U. S. Is with Ozempic in this whole class of medication, which it’s predicted that one in five Australians are going to be on this type of medication And of course, there’s all sorts of benefits, you know, not only for the weight that I understand with addiction and alcoholism and all sorts of things, but unfortunately, what the studies are showing is that forty percent of the weight that they lose is muscle. And the three biggest areas that people are losing muscle are in the buttocks and in the pelvic floor and in the abdomen. So people are actually not getting stronger.
They’re getting weaker. And we lose 10% muscle every decade anyway. And once he hits 60, unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to put on muscle. So I really see this combination of devices and the way we treat it as a way of preserving muscle and maintaining your strength and building your strength. It also means that if you’re losing weight, but you’re putting on muscle, then you’re less likely to put the weight on when you stop the medication because obviously the muscles are more metabolically active in fact.
TRISH
Mhmm. Okay. And so basically someone can once again, have a course of treatments. Is that right? Yep.
And then there’s maintenance. In August, you can have the monthly maintenance.
DR RITU
You can have monthly maintenance for both. Once you’ve done a course of treatments, usually the treatments are either four or six treatments once a week. Again, half an hour, not very well known, not particularly uncomfortable, a little bit of delayed muscle sauna. So I was going to the physio because I had a little bit of pain in the front of my hip sorry, front of my thigh and I went to three physios before finally at a pelvic floor physiotherapy told me it was because my glutes were too weak. He said you’ve got dead butt syndrome, and you need Serena Williams, glutes.
And I said, gosh. Okay. I said, well, I don’t actually sit around very much because you’ve seen me trish. I’ve got Exactly. Yeah.
Like, like most specialist doctors, I’m going from one room to the other. But anyway, nonetheless, my glutes are not very active, and so therefore, these other muscles are working inappropriately to try and stabilise everything. And so I’m doing the exercises he gave me, but I’m having the treatment as well on the outer aspect of my gluteal muscles. And I kid, you know, after one treatment, I could feel I could feel the difference in the bulk Wow. You know, that they were stronger.
And I went back to Sam because he got me to have four appointments in a row every week. And he said, that’s excellent. He said, we can push back your appointment style because you know, that’s going really well. I didn’t kind of hard to tell him though it was a bit of a treat. Although, I might be back up in the end.
But I said that I’m doing the exercises as well.
TRISH
And so tell me, so obviously, you’re doing a lot of aesthetic work. So how much of your work is dermatology? And, like, have you kind of shifted? Or is it just No. No.
No. Thore?
DR RITU
I really like the mix. As I said before, I love the fact that I can see someone and take them on a journey from go to woe. I love treating what is happening. I love, you know, treating someone’s acne, getting them there, then treating their scarring. It is so rewarding that, you know, in such a difference to their life, how they feel, their self esteem, everything about it, you know, and same with.
So I suppose I mean, I do the full range of treatments. So I treat a lot of hair loss. I would say acne and hair loss are the two things whereby where people, by the time they come to see me, they have spent countless thousands of dollars in months and months on people who aren’t specialists and often treatments that are not the best treatments for them
TRISH
Mhmm.
DR RITU
Where they could have actually just had simple medically proven prescription treatment that’s very inexpensive that would have worked. So I find yeah. I find that it’s rewarding to then sort of reroute them and put them on the right track and get them treated and cleared.
TRISH
Well, you know what? I reckon if I was gonna be a doctor, I mean, I would wanna be the feel good doctor. You know what I mean? Not someone that you go to when you, you know well, I mean, it gets you sickened away, but it’s a different sort of sickness. But someone Yeah.
But what it is, you’re giving people solutions to make them feel better because they’re gonna look better as well. Yeah. And
DR RITU
I mean most of the people think that is the lovely thing about dermatology. The patients largely are well, healthy. Break a little bit of bad news, obviously, with melanomas and things. But the thing is most melanomas that are diagnosed by dermatologists are caught very, very early. So you know, we’re not talking about death sentences here.
And obviously, you need, you know, we cut it out and then they’ve got their regular follow-up, etcetera. But I think the lovely thing is, yeah, they’re generally healthy. And you can make a difference in so many aspects of their life, both medically, cosmetically, you know, even clearing up pigmentation and capillaries has a huge difference to how people look and feel. They look light and bright and they look refreshed. That’s why the name of the second practice is doctor Refresh.
TRISH
Mhmm.
DR RITU
Because I’m not trying to really change how people look. It’s just to be a healthier, more refreshed version of themselves.
TRISH
Yep. And you know what? That’s pretty much all we want. We just wanna look a bit, we just wanna look fresh. That’s so true.
We just wanna look
DR RITU
Put it. Good to hear it.
TRISH
Exactly. Exactly. So just with the, like, the consensus, someone could come to see you for things like Actually, this is gonna sound really bad, but I had no idea that until today, which is really bad. Don’t tell anyone that some derm stood here as well.
DR RITU
I knew that.
TRISH
What about it?
DR RITU
People just do not know. Yeah.
TRISH
I have no idea. So
DR RITU
skin hair
TRISH
Skin, hair, nails.
DR RITU
Skin, hair, nails, and then I do muscle as well.
TRISH
Okay. And so tell me, with the with the the hair, say, for example, so is that like a like is that something that you can you treat with with like, for example, a young guy mid-twenty start to lose, you know, his hair, is that something he could come to see you about? Because I just thought you could just go to one of those chain clinics and, you know, I don’t even know what they do, but that’s what the general consensus
DR RITU
is, people often will end up seeing drug colleges who are not actually docs.
TRISH
Mhmm.
DR RITU
That’s just a made up thing. So yeah, absolutely. So men with young men, you know, I feel terrible for them. I mean, it’s devastating for them, and it’s not cool for them to talk about it to say that look, actually.
TRISH
Mhmm.
DR RITU
You know, I’m this guy who’s twenty five or twenty eight or thirty, and I’m starting to lose my hair and I feel terrible about it. And of course, they do. Imagine how they feel. So yeah, absolutely, I can treat them. Usually, the first first thing is medication, which is very inexpensive.
You know, we’re talking forty dollars or fifty dollars a month prescription medication. And then the studies show that, so now I’m also doing exosome injections or application onto the scalp. Exosomes and biosomes, which are basically a whole constellation of growth factors and cytokines to stimulate hair growth. We also do platelet rich plasma injections, but really all the studies show that they work well if they’re used in conjunction with medical management.
TRISH
Okay.
DR RITU
So often what I find is actually the medication itself works so well that I need any of that extra stuff. So I don’t usually offer it straight up on this. Someone’s really in a hurry.
TRISH
Mhmm.
DR RITU
I will discount medical treatment. I’ll see them four months into treatment, and then we’ll make decisions at that point. And if everything’s going really well on the medication, I only need to see them once a year, so it’s not even very expensive for them. They literally come here. Now if they’ve got quite significant hair loss, then I’ll certainly prescribe the medication, but then I’ll also recommend that they see a doctor about hair transplant.
And then only if, you know, I’ll refer them to a colleague because I don’t do that. Mhmm. And then see them. And even if they have a hair transplant, they’re still gonna need the medication to maintain that transplanted hair.
TRISH
Mhmm. Got it. Got it. Actually, I I went to a trichologist when I was eighteen because I had a really stressful period in my life, and I noticed I was losing my hair. And and someone said you’d go and see a trichologist and it didn’t actually go anywhere for me, but
DR RITU
Okay. That’s fine.
TRISH
Yeah. It was just like I was like, I didn’t realise that they weren’t doctors as well.
DR RITU
Not doctors. Not even a CVS, not a doctor.
TRISH Okay.
DR RITU
So, I mean, I am all the advertising that happens, you know, when you watch the cricket and stuff, And Shane Warren, I think, was an ambassador for one of these clinics, but they’re not, they’re not even doctors.
TRISH
Mhmm. Oh, they go. Oh my god. I could do a whole thing because I’m here now. I’m intrigued. I know. So… We’ve covered a bit of hair. Tell me about the nails, like, what issues could someone have with the nails? Well, nails, you know, you break a nail.
DR RITU
Nails is probably more medical dermatology. I mean, nails, I suppose, you know, there’s infection.
TRISH
Uh-huh.
DR RITU
So in your eyes and nails, both fingers and tiny nails. Often that’s more something that I’ll pick up, you know, I’m doing a skin check and I’ll say, look, you know, if this is that and I’ll treat that and prescribe it medication to treat that because people use the stuff with the advertised on the back of the bust, the nail paint, you could use that every day till you die, and it’s still not gonna kill the fungus in your nails. So it’s gonna cost fifty bucks a month. Like, it’s just criminal. You’ve been advertising it.
So what they need is a tablet, which again costs about fifty dollars and they’ll need two courses. So a hundred dollars and the job’s done.
TRISH
Wow.
DR RITU
And then it’d be educated on, you know, cleaning out their shoes and all that sort of stuff. Psoriasis of their nails can be quite disfiguring and often is misdiagnosed as fungal and people take, you know, equipment and people spend a number of months and sometimes years seeing different doctors until they finally see dermatologists when we make a diagnosis. And that could be really embarrassing for people. I had a guy the other day. He’s a concierge, you know, hotel.
TRISH
Yeah.
DR RITU
And he his nails I mean, they’re not horribly, terribly did you know, disfigured, but they are really abnormal. And because he’s a man, you know, he doesn’t paint his snow. So he feels terribly embarrassed because he’s shaking people’s hands all day. And you know what?
TRISH
That’s something that I would notice. I’m a real thing for, you know, how the hands look and stuff like that. So, yeah, I’ve noticed that too.
DR RITU
I think the thing about the hands too is people look at their hands. Like most people don’t look at the face. Mhmm. Only look at the face when you run to the bathroom, and that’s about it. I mean, unless you’re on Zoom, I’m posting.
But Yeah. Yes, which is a habit post COVID. But other things with the nails, look, I mean, really, there’s melanoma at the nails. There’s other conditions that can manifest in the nails. But I think probably the main things with the nails would be infection.
And psoriasis. There are now changes that happen with ageing as well. And rarely, I mean, in Australia because, you know, we’re a first world developed nation and people’s diet and nutrition is usually pretty good. We don’t see that much of that sort of thing in the nails, but certainly certain vitamin deficiencies can manifest themselves in the nails. There’s all sorts of
Trish
: Oh, I’ve just lost you.
DR RITU
Yeah. We got me.
TRISH
Oh, yeah. Got you now. Yep.
DR RITU
So, yeah, lots of lots of different things can manifest in the nails.
TRISH
Wow. I’m actually a little bit blown away because I feel a bit ignorant now because I was like, oh my god, I had no idea. To me, it was all just like I thought. I think cosmetic dermatology comes in. I’m just kind of that’s just been my head space.
DR RITU
Well, there’s a lot of dermatology, and that’s the lovely thing. That’s why I like being a dermatologist because it’s very varied. I mean, we treat sweating as well as excess sweating or hypothyroidism. So we have a device and microwave technology which cures excess sweating under the arms. Usually, when we do it, it’s usually one treatment.
And I mean, that changes people’s lives. Like, you know, people who can only wear dark clothing because they’ve got massive sweat patches under their arms. Know, people who can’t shake people’s hands because their hands are always wet or they’ve got sweat dropping on the paper when they’re trying to write all their pens and pens slipping out of their hands when they’re writing in exams.
TRISH
Yeah.
DR RITU
All of these things can be treated. But the first step is obviously seeing the right sort of doctor and getting a diagnosis and then and then management.
TRISH
Yep. That’s so true. It’s sort of like, you just gotta know where to go, hey, really. Yeah. Like, you just gotta know that it’s out there.
The help is out there and where to go together.
DR RITU
That’s right. And look, often, I think the thing is that what gets lost is people don’t think of going to their GP to ask. Yes. Be their GP. So instead, they sort of Google and or they just, you know, they talk to their hairdresser or their neighbour or their girlfriends or whatever.
But actually, they just saw their GP, their GP people would say, well, here, this is what you should see.
TRISH
Yeah.
DR RITU
This specialist as you should see. I think the other thing, and maybe I think this is changing now. But historically, I would find that patients may be felt too embarrassed to talk to their GP about the fact that they hated their, you know, brown blotches, their liver spots, or their wisdom warts, or their broken capillaries because they felt that, you know, they would sound like they were vain or that they Yeah. You know, or that they had all these benign lumpy bumpy moulds that they really hated and they wanted to be rid of.
Trish
Mhmm.
DR RITU
They felt too embarrassed to bring it up. But I think that as things have become more generally accepted, I think that there’s less of that now. And I suppose those very much older GPs who perhaps were a little bit judgmental. I don’t know. They’re probably more on the way out as well.
Trish
: Yeah. That’s true. Things are changing and people are well, people know that these services are more than nine because you’re right. Like, you can go to your doctor. You gotta wonder, are they gonna know where to send me?
Yes. Some of them just wouldn’t know.
DR RITU
Well, they may not know which dermatologists, but they’ll certainly know that that is dermatology. Yeah. They know. And then and then the question is if they, you know, if they give you a referral to a dermatologist and they say, look, I’m not sure if that usually they’re gonna only send you to a dermatologist that they know does that because it is true that not all dermatologists do lasers, not all dermatologists. All dermatologists would treat, you know, obviously, acne and the nails and the hair or dermis would do that.
But certainly not all derms are doing cosmetics, not all derms, doing lasers, not all derms, or no other derms, to my knowledge, are doing body devices for muscle preservation or for the pelvic floor, certainly not in use.
TRISH
Mhmm. Oh, I almost lost you again.
DR RITU
I’m here. Oh, yeah. You’re there. Great.
TRISH
Oh, that’s just really I was gonna say eye opening, but there’s been an ear opening for me today because like I’ve been you for a while now, because it didn’t even put all those pieces together, you know, like, something so interesting.
DR RITU
It is, I mean, it’s great and it’s very rewarding actually. It really makes my day to be to do all this stuff and to hopefully make a difference.
TRISH
Yeah. That’s wonderful. So tell us how can we find you?
DR RITU
Rush. Well, the name is Ritu Gupta, so often Dr. Ritu and I have 2 websites, so Dr. Refresh in Ultramo. And then also platinum dermatology, which is in Ultramar, it’s actually on the same floor.
So that’s just for this to practise. So we’ve got two websites so people can jump on. Most welcome to have a good look around. We have a virtual consultation tool on the Doctor Refresh website, which I think is really interesting. So you can click on the areas that interest you when it comes up with a bunch of different options.
So you can do that in the privacy and the piece of your own time and on your own time, and then that gets emailed through to us so that we have that before you come in.
TRISH
Which So that’s your treatment planning tool?
DR RITU
Yeah. It’s a virtual con on the Doctor Refresh website, so anyone can have a look at that and send that through to us. Mhmm. We can book online. You can WhatsApp us to book and you can pick up the phone and give us a ring and we’d love to fit you in.
I try to keep spaces every day for new patients and also patients. So usually we can manage to get people in, look, I would say, the longest weight would probably be 2 to 4 weeks. So it’s certainly a 6 month weight like some specialists and I certainly haven’t closed my books. Yeah. And look if it’s something that someone’s really worried about, you know, they should just talk to my reception staff.
They’re very kind and caring.
TRISH
Right? Yes. I I can vouch for that without a doubt. Yeah.
DR RITU
So they’ll be able to judge and then, you know, we can organise things accordingly.
TRISH
Amazing. And also on social media. Like, I’ve seen you all over social media. So people can find it there as well. So you’re not hard to find and No.
No.
DR RITU
Instagram and Facebook as well. And yeah. So very, very happy. And if people wanna jump on and have a look at social media, there’s a lot for me to post on there and a few interviews and things. So, yeah, they can get a bit of a sense of me and the practice and what we can hopefully offer to them.
TRISH
Fantastic. Actually, it’s one of a lot about social media. You kinda get a little bit of a feeling for the, you know, the person or the clinic or whatever before you go there. So I love that about social media.
DR RITU
Yeah. Feel like you get to know them a little bit.
TRISH
Exactly. Well, look, thanks so much for joining me today, Dr. Richard. I really, really appreciate that it’s just been so interesting. Look, I mean, I love it because I learned something from every podcast, but I’ve actually learned I hate this podcast.
I gotta be honest.
DR RITU
That’s perfect. What we can do, we can do another one, Trish. We can do one here. They all I mean, the public should know, really. I mean, that at the end of the day, as I said, it’s all about education Exactly.
TRISH
That’s sort of true. Yeah. So true.
DR RITU
The better their decisions are the better results they’re gonna have. And hopefully, you know, with less problems.
TRISH
Exactly. And knowledge is power hay. So that’s, you know, it’s always gonna be the best thing
DR RITU
for sure.
TRISH
Well, thanks for today. I really really appreciate it. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule because, you know, I mean, like, you’re busy. You know what I mean? You’ve taken the time to talk to me.
So I really appreciate it as well.
DR RITU
That is my pleasure. Always lovely.
TRISH
Lovely. And listen, look, so if you wanna get contact with doctor Ritu just, you know, check out doctor Ritu fresh. That’s drrefresh.com.au . Doctor Ritu?
DR RITU
Yep.
TRISH
drrefresh.com.au Awesome. So thanks for joining us today, doctor Ritu. Have a great night.
DR RITU
Thanks a lot, Trish. You too. Thank you, ma’am.
