"Some patients would rather listen to a hippie in Oregon who's made their own patchouli paste than take my recommendation," says Engelman, who says that some patients tell her they don't believe in Western medicine. "It makes me wonder, 'why are you here?' I went to school for 13 years to be a skin specialist, but some people think whatever they read on the Internet is doctrine," she says.

The Internet can be a great resource, but Jaliman says it's pointed more than one of her patients in the wrong direction.

"I had one patient who tried to do an at-home lemon peel, but used a high concentration of lemon juice. Lemon is highly acidic and will burn your face if you expose it to sunlight, causing a lot of brown discoloration. She probably spent $1 on the lemon, but ended up spending $2,000 on laser procedures to fix the damage," recalls Jaliman.

Before you start Googling around for an at-home product that promises to rid you of whatever skin growth popped up over night, see a dermatologist. Engelman and Jaliman say that lotions and potions bought online often leave the patient with more problems than they started with.

A few to look out for:

-Freeze Away: Engelman says that people trust this wart-removal product due to clever marketing. "It shares a name with the procedure you get in a dermatologist office, so people think it's the same thing." But actually, this product doesn't have the same effect at all. Engelman says it scars and doesn't completely remove growths, meaning they could grow back or spread.

-Black Salve: An herbal mixture claiming to "draw out" cancers and other growths. "If you come to me with a tumor, not only will I remove it correctly, I'll also repair the area beautifully," says Engelman. Black salve, on the other hand, completely corrodes skin, leaving severe scarring and damaged tissue behind. (And if you're still not convinced, a quick image search will absolve any desire to dabble in the black salve market.)

-Acid: Jaliman says she commonly sees people who try to DIY their own peels, resulting in disastrous skin discoloration and terrible burns. "It looks easy when an acid peel is applied in a dermatology office, but there are a number of ways it can go wrong," says Jaliman. Some people don't degrease their entire face before applying it, they forget to remove it from around the corners or their nose or they use the wrong acid for their skin type, says Jaliman.

"Creams and pills do not work by telepathy through their containers from the bathroom countertop," says Krant. A lot of patients nod and tell their dermatologist they did everything they were told, but face washes go unused and pills go untaken.

Jaliman says that sometimes she finds out patients don't even fill their prescriptions, but they're embarrassed to tell her. "It makes me hesitate to give someone something else if I think they haven't been using the first thing I gave them. Something stronger might end up ruining their skin."

And another thing -- the strong stuff isn't always the best. "I give my patients what I think will be best for them the first time around," says Engelman. She says that if a patient doesn't use a medicine correctly and wants something else, it's not going to be as good as the initial prescription. "I'm not hiding more powerful stuff in the back."

Let's be clear about one thing: It's very obvious to dermatologists when someone has been a little too hands-on with a skin issue.

"Please don't do surgery on yourself in your bathroom," says Krant. Your bathroom, says Krant, is where little pimples become scars, sun damage becomes infected skin, and mild skin fungus turns into tinea incognito, a deep and spreading mess.

Perhaps the worst outcome of self-inflicted surgery is when people cut off their own skin tags and moles, says Jaliman. "The results are terrible, and leave a lot of scarring." Plus, even if you do manage to cut off the growth (a difficult feat, since cancer cells can wrap around surrounding nerves), those cells need to be looked at under a microscope in a lab, says Engelman. Under the scrutiny of a professional, cancer cells can often be traced to their origin in the body -- meaning a doctor can tell you if you have cancer elsewhere that needs to be addressed immediately.