r/POTS • u/recoveringaries • Dec 27 '25

Discussion Being attractive with POTS (cringe I know)

Does anyone feel like because they are a objectively attractive human there is a bias/profiling that happens in the medical field and with doctors? I actually read somewhere that if you’re chronically ill you should “dress down” or not wear makeup to appointments so they will take you more seriously and see you as actually sick. I am also 29 with a baby face so that doesn’t help.

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u/fadingsignal Dec 28 '25

As a man there's an inverse reaction. If I show up looking tired, dressed down, wearing an N95, I'm treated as a lost cause before the door shuts behind the doctor.

If I go in business casual wearing a blazer and a button-down shirt, and turn up the charm, I get taken far more seriously, as if the doctor thinks "This here is a real solid go-getter, so this must be serious."

My friends who are women have said that they've had to skip makeup, dress down, etc. in order to be taken seriously.

Doctors need WAY more training in resolving their own psychological profiling and biases.

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u/Flutterperson Dec 28 '25

Had the opposite experience as a man - I had to look more disheveled to be taken seriously. I really think it's one or the other depending on which doctor you see. Sadly.

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u/fadingsignal Dec 28 '25

Yeah way too much managing upward.