Most refs won't argue with a Doctor's Note regardless how a spot looks at an event. I think there needs to be a revision to require a doctor's not from a Dermatologist. This would clear up all bias and trash talk since the dermatologist specializes in skin conditions. I know of some doctor's that favor teams because either they used to wrestle or their son(s) wrestle. What does everyone else think?

I agree with your concept, but wonder how many rural communities have timely access to a dermatologist. Not a lot of them in NW Kansas.

I know it's a hassle to get to a dermatologist (especially for rural schools), but most general physicians don't have the kind of experience with these type of skin conditions to make an adequate diagnosis or to tell when a wrestler is no longer contagious. It they could, then there would be no more problems with skin disease.

The only way to stamp this problem out for good is to have all skin diseases approved by a licensed dermatologist. It is worth a 2 hour drive to a larger community.

Fat-boy, got to disagree with you there. It is not just the drive to a different town, but the scheduling af an appointment. When I got my Herpes (the gift that keeps on giving) I couldn't get an appointment to see a dermatologist for a week and a half. That is a long time if you are wrestling. Any doctor worth his degree can look at a picture and tell most of this stuff, also there are test that can be run, so it is not like they have to take a guess.
At the Manhattan JV tourney last year an official overturned a doctors note. He told me that the KSHSAA told the Officials at their supervisors meeting that they had that right. It was the first and last I have heard of that. Has anyone heard that or was he blowing smoke?

Also those doctor notes expire every two weeks, so if u had to go to a skin specialist, it would be huge hassle. Getting one appointment is hard enough with one of them, but one every two weeks would be impossible.

The treatment of ringworm as far as what is contagious or not has not been established in the medical literature. I have discussed this at length with some of the top dermatologists and infectious disease experts in the country. There are no standard guidelines from these medical societies and thus, a family doc in rural Kansas might actually have a better feel and more experience at dealing with wrestlers than an expert from the city.

A week to wait for an appointment seems like a long time, especially to a high school kid wanting to compete. But when you look at the grand scheme of things, a week without wrestling is much better than infecting someone for life. If a general physician had the experience to tell when something was contagious or not, then there wouldn't be any problem with disease transfer. The problem lies in the aforementioned "pictures" that doctors can look at to see if a disease is still communicable. The pictures that doctors look at are no different than the ones in our rule books. These pictures show grand-scale infections. Diseases like impetigo contagiosa, herpes simplex (and less serious diseases like Ring Worm) can be in their remission phases, but are still contagious. A doctor without experience in this area sees that the infection is in remission (when compared with his pictures), signs a note, and the wrestler passes on his problem to others during the last few days of infection. This is why these pesky diseases are still a nuisance. So, wrestlers should do what it takes and take a week or two off, get an appointment with a dermatologist, and get FULLY healed before competing. Because no one wants to try to explain to their girlfriend how they came home with herpes.

I didn't know the doctor's note expired every two weeks, maybe with a Dermatologist note it could be extended. Since they are skin specialists.

Actually, the best expert would be a vet. Everybody knows that cats are the worst carriers of ringworm. They should know what to do. Joking a little but it is true also.