LISA CLARK: Is there a benefit to topical verses pill?
JOSEPH APUZZIO, MD: Well, patients can be allergic to either. Also there’s the potential for drug interactions if one is taking a medication on a long-term basis. So for example, for chronic recurrent disease many individuals would prefer a topical therapy rather than the oral because the oral could interfere with some of the medications that the patient is taking. LISA CLARK: Dr. Bachmann, I know that there are a lot of products will bill themselves as sort of an over-the-counter treatment, diagnose and treat yourself.
JOSEPH APUZZIO, MD: Well, patients can be allergic to either. Also there’s the potential for drug interactions if one is taking a medication on a long-term basis. So for example, for chronic recurrent disease many individuals would prefer a topical therapy rather than the oral because the oral could interfere with some of the medications that the patient is taking. LISA CLARK: Dr. Bachmann, I know that there are a lot of products will bill themselves as sort of an over-the-counter treatment, diagnose and treat yourself. Is that advisable, especially for women with diabetes who develop a yeast infection? GLORIA BACHMANN, MD: It’s advisable, Lisa, once the woman knows what she’s dealing with. That she’s seen her physician, that she knows the symptoms, the physician has looked at the vaginal secretions and confirmed — under the microscope — that indeed she has a yeast infection and that she certainly can treat recurrent ones when she understands what a yeast infection is, what it feels
