Lisa
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When I saw this thread I decided to write to Dr. Afrin himself - I hate gossip and prefer to go straight to the source. Dr. Afrin asked me to post this for him so that his patients are not alarmed. As to "why" I did not wish to intrude nor did I feel it necessary for him to explain why he has had to change his situation as to working with patients. So, I will let Dr. Afrin himself state what his position is so that any doubts can be resolved. If you are a patient of Dr. Afrin I would suggest that you write to him if you are concerned about your situation with him as your doctor.
I hope this helps.
Lisa
" the bottom line is, as you have heard correctly, that I presently am not accepting new referrals, though I am continuing to see the new patients who had booked with me before this change of a few weeks ago. Also, very importantly, the rumor I heard this past week that I am no longer seeing even my follow-up patients is completely false. I'm continuing to see *all* of my follow-up patients (at least, those who wish to continue seeing me), though you are correct that I am transferring responsibility for prescribing my patients' "routine medications" to their primary physicians, allowing me to transition to more of a "consultative" role than the front-line prescriber of all of my patients' medications.
I fully expect this situation will be resolved at some point and I will once again accept new referrals and resume more comprehensive care for my patients. At this time I cannot confidently estimate when such resumption of more comprehensive service for new and follow-up patients will take place, but work is in progress to resolve this situation.
I also remain fully available to advise others (especially physicians) who are seeking guidance in how to evaluate and treat for mast cell disorders. Colleagues always have been, and always will be, especially welcome to e-mail or call me anytime, for the obvious reason that the help I can provide a colleague often will (eventually) be amplified many-fold in terms of the number of patients who will be helped. Of course, if a patient I have not seen before e-mails me, well, you can understand why I cannot make any patient-specific recommendations for a patient I cannot personally evaluate and instead can only speak in generalities. This has always been the case and always will be the case.
Please know -- and you are welcome to "put out there" on the Internet -- that (1) these recent changes have *nothing* to do with my unswerving great interest in this area, (2) I remain 100% committed to pursuing the best clinical care and research and education in this area that I can, and (3) the present situation will be resolved, but everyone must be patient. I greatly appreciate your, and everyone else's, understanding and support.
-- LBA" Dr. Lawrence B. Afrin
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