Dr. Craig retires

Dr. Ruffin Craig, who has been practicing dermatology in Jackson for 34 years, has retired so he can spend more time with his family and focus on some of his favorite hobbies.

Dr. Craig, who started his practice in Jackson in 1973, has watched it grow through the years. He retired from Dermatology Associates, P.C. on April 30.

“I will miss it,” Dr. Craig says. “It’s been a big part of what I’ve been doing since 1965, but it’s time.”

Dr. Craig has four grandchildren. One of them graduated kindergarten in Memphis this spring, he says, and he never would have been able to attend the ceremony if he hadn’t retired.
He plans to shift his focus from medicine to some of his favorite hobbies, such as golf, fishing and gardening. “It’s good for the soul,” Dr. Craig says.

After graduating from the University of Tennessee Medical School in Memphis, Dr. Craig began his career in 1965 with a one-year internship and two years of active duty with the U.S. Air Force, stationed at Clark Air Base in the Philippine Islands. (He followed that with five years of ready reserve.) He said he had some dynamic teachers in the military, and he worked with dermatologists in the Philippines. “They showed me cases and got me interested in dermatology,” he says.

Dr. Craig completed his residency in Memphis in 1973 and then started practicing medicine in Jackson.

He has enjoyed the multitude of various skin conditions he has treated throughout his career, he says. “We have a great mix of patients that we see, from newborns to geriatrics. It’s a great practice in that there is a lot of diversity in it.”

From exotic cases such as leprosy to more common conditions such as acne and eczema, Dr. Craig has seen an intriguing mix of skin problems. And he said he helped develop treatment programs for a variety of conditions.

His favorite part of the job was seeing a skin problem and understanding the disease process. And if the disease was incurable, he would try to make the patient as comfortable as possible. “A great part of it is educating the patient about the disease,” Dr. Craig says.

A good number of cases that Dr. Craig faced at his practice were skin cancer, he says. West Tennessee is unique to other areas because many people with fair complexions spend a lot of time outdoors, which makes skin cancer more common here, he says.

Throughout his career, he has seen major breakthroughs in dermatology such as cortisone treatment, newer topical medicines and biological medicines that patients ingest. “The diseases don’t change, but treatments change,” Dr. Craig says. “Diseases have been able to be controlled better.”

He plans to continue to keep up with the latest research in dermatology to see how the field progresses. But, after more than 40 years of practicing medicine, he has other pursuits in life to follow.

“It’s like Seinfeld said,” Dr. Craig explains. “It was time.”