# Dealing With a Naked Examination. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 15, 2019, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819 "2019-10-15T20:26:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/1 "2019-10-15T20:26:44Z")
Interestingly enough, I presently don’t have any doctor that does a nude examination. Not even my urologist. But I used to have one, until he retired. (In case you were wondering, I think it was for a hernia.) But I always wondered what the most discreet thing to do when that. I personally usually tried to make small talk, like it was no big deal. I’m serious. But it’s bound to come up again. So what do you do when the doctor is examining you naked? :):):):)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/2 "2019-10-15T20:30:04Z")
Nah, too easy. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/3 "2019-10-15T20:33:05Z")
I’ll take that low road: Insist that he put his clothes back on. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/4 "2019-10-15T20:37:00Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Nah, too easy. We appreciate your self-restraint. As to the OP, I figure the doctor has done this hundreds of times, and I won’t be able to think up anything original to say. So, I try to ignore the fact that the doctor was [list=A][li]Female, [_]Apparently sixteen years old, and [_]Roughly eleven months pregnant at the time[/list]when she showed me what it felt like to be a Muppet. And her hands were cold.[/li] Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/5 "2019-10-15T21:07:19Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > So what do you do when the doctor is examining you naked? Demand that they provide you with a fedora. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/6 "2019-10-15T21:12:42Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > So what do you do when the doctor is examining you naked? Ask for foreplay. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/7 "2019-10-15T21:20:14Z")
As with Shodan, I figured my doctor was more comfortable with this than I. My last exam was uneventful or so I thought. After completing the exam, my doctor explained that I had something slightly atypical and medically interesting. Nothing dangerous, nothing worrisome but something she doesn’t witness every day. She asked me if she could bring in a student for a teachable moment. I don’t regret agreeing to be examined by the student and I expect the … thoroughness of the exam worked to my benefit but it still wasn’t a bright and shiny moment for me. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/8 "2019-10-15T21:26:54Z")
I stare at the wall and think of England. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/9 "2019-10-15T21:28:11Z")
They’re there to examine you; you’re there to be examined. It doesn’t mean anything other than that. If you try to make jokes about it, I’m sure they’ve heard all of those same jokes a hundred times before. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/10 "2019-10-15T22:10:20Z")
I’ve never been completely naked for an exam. And when the doctor examines my boys, it takes all of three seconds. Maybe a few more if they do a rectal. Not really enough time to strike up a conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/11 "2019-10-15T22:13:33Z")
I have never even HEARD of a nakey exam. How does this come up, so I can avoid it. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/12 "2019-10-15T22:15:35Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > I have never even HEARD of a nakey exam. How does this come up, so I can avoid it. Eat right, get exercise, try not to have a prostate or any type of genitalia, try not to get old. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/13 "2019-10-15T22:17:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > They’re there to examine you; you’re there to be examined. It doesn’t mean anything other than that. If you try to make jokes about it, I’m sure they’ve heard all of those same jokes a hundred times before. Yeah this. Don’t be that guy. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/14 "2019-10-15T22:43:10Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > I’ve never been completely naked for an exam. > > And when the doctor examines my boys, it takes all of three seconds. Maybe a few more if they do a rectal. > > Not really enough time to strike up a conversation. The naked exam is much more likely to come up with a dermatologist rather than a urologist. A skin check for suspicious lesions is a typical scenario. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/15 "2019-10-15T22:47:00Z")
Been through it enough times that its no real thing for me. I answer any questions she has and do my usual amount of small talk. I’m male and she isn’t (of course) but she is one damn fine doctor and has caught a lot of issues well before they became issues so she wants to run me over head to toe she is welcome to any time. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/16 "2019-10-15T23:06:38Z")
I’ve have a mostly naked skin exam at the dermatologist every year. I wear a gown, but she keeps moving it and flipping it open so much that it doesn’t really providing any coverage. Mostly she talks about what she’s seeing on my skin. I don’t really understand what the OP means by “the most discreet thing to do”. I’ve never felt any need to try to steer the conversation in any direction. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/17 "2019-10-16T11:57:18Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > The naked exam is much more likely to come up with a dermatologist rather than a urologist. A skin check for suspicious lesions is a typical scenario. My GP doctor includes a full-body skin check with a standard physical which involves complete nakedity. I don’t know if he does this for everyone or just people like me (who have a family history of skin cancer). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/18 "2019-10-16T12:28:53Z")
Wow. I’ve _never_ disrobed for a physical. The closest has been dropping trou for a rectal. My PCP once referred me to a dermatologist. After a \>6 month wait for an appointment, then a 90 minute wait to be seen, she looked at my hands, said, “vitiligo”, then muttered something to her assistant, who got me the vitiligo handout. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/19 "2019-10-16T12:37:22Z")
Yes, annual skin exam by a dermatologist to check for anything unusual. It’s no big deal, like **Chronos** and others have said, I’m there to be examined, and their job is to do the examination. No jokes. I just make small talk. Hello, how are you, got any vacations planned and where to, that sort of thing. And then it’s down to the business of the exam. Keep it professional. ---
**Author:** ![Labor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Labor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labor)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819/20 "2019-10-16T14:45:31Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > She asked me if she could bring in a student for a teachable moment. I don’t regret agreeing to be examined by the student and I expect the … thoroughness of the exam worked to my benefit but it still wasn’t a bright and shiny moment for me. I had hemorrhoid issues a couple of years ago. One procedure was done by a female HCP, her nurse asked if it was OK with me to have a student with the HCP during the procedure. These students need to observe these incredibly personal and real-life procedures, so by all means the student is allowed. That student saw an extremely uncomfortable middle aged white guy get an external hemorrhoid excised. Then she got to see the same middle aged white guy nearly pass out. She got a lot of lessons. I have to hand it to the HCP, she was kind, comforting and was nice to me as I got light-headed. I didn’t try to make any small talk, they knew that I was uncomfortable. I answered their questions and asked some of my own. It was an OK experience, the relief was worth the exposure. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-a-naked-examination/841819.md?page=2)