A Hamilton dermatologist who spent more than three decades providing skincare to residents said his ability to work with a variety of patients, including prison inmates, would live in his memory when he retired this month.

Alexander Romeo, who runs the Dermatology and Skin Care Centre in the Washington Mall on Church Street with his wife, has encouraged young Bermudians to pursue a career in medicine because he sees the need for local people to follow in his field.

“There is a hope that one or two young Bermudians will study dermatology,” he said of the specialism, which he noted should be accessed for medical reasons, rather than cosmetic ones.

“My philosophy is more about the wellbeing of the patient,” he added.

Dr Romeo’s career spans five decades and began when he studied at Howard University in Washington.

He went on to hone his skills for 25 years in the United States before he returned to Bermuda in the late 1990s.

At his practice on Church Street, he catered to the dermatology and skincare needs of patients from as young as 2 to almost 100.

Over the years, Dr Romeo has concluded that there are “too many” dermatology medications being sold over the counter.

He added that there were products for sale with the “express purpose of making money”.

Dr Romeo said: “They’ve got products where you’ve got to use six different steps to get from point A to point B when all you need is one.

“Understanding the skin is very important for what you prescribe for that person.”

Over the years, one of the more common skin ailments he has seen in Bermuda was atopic dermatitis, commonly known as eczema.

It is a chronic, itchy and inflammatory skin condition that causes the skin to become dry. Dr Romeo said it became apparent at or shortly after birth.

“The tendency for it can be lifelong and the scratching is the most unwanted aspect of it but there are medications which can be used to lower that,” he said.

Dr Romeo said he also treated residents with various skin cancers, including patients who were exposed to radiation other than from the sun.

The former student of The Berkeley Institute left the island shortly after graduating to pursue an undergraduate degree at Howard University.

He would return to spend a year on the island before he returned to his alma mater for his medical degree.

Dr Romeo completed three years of internship and to complete his medical training, he studied aspects of dermatology.

He said he was convinced to enter the field thanks to a friend whose father was a dermatologist, which allowed him to learn a little about the subject.

While at Howard University, he trained at three different locations in Washington, including at the former DC General Hospital and a veteran’s hospital.

“It was well-rounded in terms of experience,” he said.

At the former DC General Hospital, he was chief resident dermatologist and was later appointed as assistant chief of the hospital’s outpatient department.

He simultaneously ran a private practice three days a week for almost ten years.

One his standout experiences, which he later brought to Bermuda, was being assigned as visiting dermatologist to the prisons.

He said: “It was an experience that not many people wanted to have but I said ‘yes, I’ll do it’.”

Dr Romeo saw prisoners in Washington and would also travel down to Virginia to treat inmates at a maximum-security facility.

Dr Romeo said: “There were some pretty bad conditions that I had to live through but the experience served me well.”

In the 1990s, he would visit Bermuda throughout the year to treat patients.

In October 1998, he decided to return to the island permanently, becoming its only full-time dermatologist. He also became the designated dermatologist for inmates at Westgate Correctional Facility.

Dr Romeo was a skilled dancer and exploited his athletic prowess as a young man.

While at The Berkeley Institute, he was a standout football player. He was a founding member of Devonshire Colts Football Club.

At Howard University he was a member of the 1961 football team that won the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship.

Dr Romeo’s practice will close at the end of this month and his plan after that is to conduct ancestry research on Romeos in Bermuda.

On his career he said: “It is a journey that I have undertaken that has made memories.”

He said meeting his wife was one such memory he kept close to his heart.