Georgia Skin Specialists — Attraction in Atlanta

This review is long overdue, and unfortunately I can’t even speak to whether or not the doctor that I saw back in 2018 is still at this practice, but I had such a bad experience with the particular dermatologist, it has impacted my confidence in seeking out other dermatological help. I had moved to Atlanta in July of 2018; about two or three months into living here, I began having a horrible red, itchy, flaky rash break out on my face and my eyelids. Soon enough, it began to hurt to blink because of the rash on my eyelids. I needed to get professional help almost immediately. I was able to get an appointment pretty quickly, but I did not feel cared for during the appointment. The dermatologist seemed to brush aside my concerns and input, saying that my skin condition was nothing more than a bit of dermatitis due to my laundry detergent (which I have used for years without issue, and is a fragrance free hypoallergenic detergent supposedly backed by dermatologists…). She prescribed me a high concentration hydrocortisone ointment for my eyelids and a slightly less concentration for the rest of my face, the second which was so expensive that I never actually picked up from the pharmacy. Then she gave me advice to just use OTC hydrocortisone and mix it into my daily facial moisturizer, and use it as needed on the rash, forevermore. Having a degree in chemistry, not a lot of what was conveyed to me made a lot of sense or made me feel comfortable and confident about remedying this new, uncomfortable health issue. For example, if my laundry detergent was what was causing the rash, why was it only showing up NOW, and why only on my face… a part of me that isn’t coming into contact nearly as much as other parts of my body with clothing or other items that would have been washed in the detergent?… Fast forward over a year later, and I still regularly was battling the facial rash AND, for some seemingly unknown reason, horrible jawline acne. I then have a nice chat with a new PCP who takes the time to learn my medical history, takes concern in all my health issues, and points out to me he thinks the regular use of the hydrocortisone is flooding my hormone system and causing the hormonal acne. This, from a chemist perspective, unfortunately made sense, because cortisol is basically the fundamental chemical for all the steroids and hormones produced in your body… Fast forward to the present, I have moved twice, to differ states, have tried all sorts of alternate methods and remedies, and have gotten both the rash and acne to improve, but still battle with both regularly. I am finally starting to feel confident again about finding a new dermatologist that can help me with now TWO issues, instead of one. I DO NOT recommend...

I had a wonderful doctor, Dr. Desiree M., however after two horrible experiences and an incorrect billing with lack of appropriate communication, I will be unable to continue my care here. Although it looks well kept and people appear professional, they do take way too long to return your phone calls, and given that they're not open until 5 p.m., their hours are very inconvenient. I left a message with billing on February 5th and requested somebody to call me back to deal with billing and scheduling an appointment. I then called on February 26th to deal with the billing again and still have NEVER received a call back. By the time I looked up my account information online it said I had no balance as of March 3rd. Finally as of March 19th after I've already visited the doctor and paid about $500 today (as such my billing account was active hence somebody finally returning my INQUIRY email through their Billing System). If I did not see the doctor today I do not believe their system would have ever gotten back to me. And my $20 bill would have been sent to collections and hit my credit. As of today, from the email inquiries response team, they said my half of a copay that they incorrectly collected bill WAS sent to COLLECTIONS in late FEBRUARY (even though I had called the office on FEB 5!!!)... but hopefully I can resolve this before it actually hits my credit cause this is absolutely absurd. After playing phone tag after leaving at least five messages and receiving ONLY two phone calls back to set up the initial appointment as a new patient, I was setting up a preventive Dermatological screening as a young patient. I am unsure why they decided to change it to a sick visit but it really wasn't and I should not have had a mole removed that I was concerned about. Because I had a mole removed it had turned into a sick visit but that should have been after I had left the office. I should not have had to have paid anything initially because it was preventive care. So this confounding bill and their inability to let me pay them causes me to go to collections???? I truly do not understand this!!! If they had called me back I would have gladly paid what I owed (I just needed to speak with a HUMAN to ensure the billing was correct). And I still will pay it because $20 USD is absolutely NOT worth this hassle and run-around. This lack of professionalism and lack of communication is unacceptable and a terrible representation of the practice. With all their terrible and wretched reviews on here they truly should modify their business. This is completely infuriating and no way to treat paying patrons.

Plus I waited about an hour and a half for my first appointment even though I had...

I had several appointments here. They started off okay, or so I thought, since this was the first dermatology practice I had ever been to. However, I always saw different doctors and nurses each time I came in which made it difficult to streamline treatment. One doctor in particular acknowledged my concerns, but other nurses and doctors ignored me and my concerns. After many issues, the final straw was when I postponed non-life threatening treatment and asked if we could revisit in 6 months. During the appointment, the doctor/nurse (she was new) said that was fine. I got several emails and phone calls from the practice over the next few months that said things along the lines of “you didn’t follow our medical advice, so you can’t sue us if you get cancer.” Okay, maybe they just do not want to be sued. Fine. Again, I will reiterate that the proposed treatment was not surgery or anything that needed immediate attention.

A relevant point here is that I have been having constant pain and massive scarring from a surgery performed by the practice a couple months before. I mentioned this during various follow up appointments and was completely ignored each time. I called in to make an appointment specifically to address the pain and scarring and ended up being verbally harassed by a nurse who wanted to “give a young woman her motherly advice,” and would not schedule an appointment for me because (her words) if I didn’t take care of my other issue first (the unnecessary procedure that I declined) they would be “bad doctors.”

And, lastly, she told me if I wanted to get relief for the pain in my scar I would need to schedule a plastic surgery consultation anyway, which is over $100 just for a consultation. Sadly, this practice is just trying to bully people and make money. I have since gone to a different practice on 10th street where I was treated with respect and able to get injections for my scar to relieve the pain (at no extra cost to me).

Avoid...