It all started with a doctor and a patient.

Like many people my age, I had a flare up of acne. I reached out to my trusted dermatologist to seek treatment, but the soonest available appointment was three months later. I took what I could get and walked around letting the zits eat away at my face for three months (I don’t recommend this). Finally, I arrived for my appointment at 7:40 am so I could be the first in the office. I still had to wait 30 minutes to be seen, and I was seen for about 7 minutes.

Three months, two hours of travel time from college to home, 30 minutes of waiting, and interrupted sleep, all for a 7 minute appointment.

When I told my doctor about my experience, he was not surprised. My story is not an uncommon one, and he had been aware of this problem since 2009. It turns out there was an easy solution. Online acne care. But back in 2009 when he had thought of it, few people carried high quality cameras in their pockets.

Yet, there was no good alternative available. Why was I willing to torture myself to see my dermatologist when I could just go online and get my prescription from any number of sites?

It turns out there was a simple explanation. I trusted my provider and our relationship, not just his ability to write me a prescription. Existing online options made money by trying to sell me their own product or their own prescriptions after filling out some quiz. There was no patient-provider relationship. And, most did not specialize in acne care.

So, we started an alternative. We started Honeydew.

A place to get real medical advice as you would in-person but with the convenience of online care. A place where you could actually meet your provider and make sure you trust them. A place where you could send updates of your skin on your own time and let the platform handle the rest, including coordinating your pharmacy order and delivery. We believe that everyone should have access to the best skin care.

It isn’t complicated, it just makes sense.