7800 SW - Miami Dermatology And Laser Institute — Local services in Kendall

AWFUL Experience with Office Staff and manager - Erica Rak

I made an appointment at this office with Dr. Joy for a small eczema issue I've been having.

First red flag was when I made the appointment over the phone I said: "thanks for the help! have a good day" and the person over the phone didn't say "you're welcome" or "you too!", they just hung up on me. Called back in a different day to reschedule, spoke to the same person got hung up on again after saying "thanks!". It's something minor but really rude not to have the common decency or respect to your patients over the phone, regardless I forgot about it and went in for my appointment.

I was the first to check in in the morning, the person at the front asked me if I wanted to include a emergency contact, what my pharmacy was, and if I could sign an office policy form - then they said I was good to go and I sat down. I waited 40 minutes and saw 4 people who came in after me get seen, before a women (who I later learned was the office manager, Erica Rak) came to the front and told me I didn't fill out the in-take form correctly and that I needed to again before I could be seen. That was confusing because 1. the person at the front who checked me in didn't tell me that and 2. I filled the in-take form out the night before with all the essential information, the only thing I didn't include was my SSN. Eventually I was able to see Dr. Joy and she apologized for the wait, and when I told her about the SSN thing she was like "hmmm thats weird, I'll have the office manager talk to you". The Dr. even asked the medical assistant who was in the room if this was normal practice and the assistant said "sometimes we ask for that, sometimes we don't". Then we spoke about my skin and Dr. Joy seemed great and knowledgable, we only spoke for a minute or two and she prescribed some ointment.

Then Erica came into the room, I was assuming to apologize for the miscommunication. Instead, she talked down to me in an incredibly condescending tone, telling me that they need SSN for collections and that all medical offices require this. I responded and said: "I just saw an endocrinologist and an ophthalmologist and neither asked for my SSN, but ok, thats fine. I just would've appreciated if someone told me that at the beginning so I didn't have to wait." The Erica responded "well all the people at the front are new, its your fault because YOU were the one who didn't fill out anything for the in-take." At this point I didn't really know what to say so I just said: "ok, can I go now?"

I understand that miscommunications happen, we're all human. I understand that new people training might not know all the policies, I've been in that situation before. I understand waiting an hour at a doctors office to be seen for 60 seconds, its happened to me before and it'll happen again I'm sure.

What I have a problem with is how the office staff, and specifically Erica treated me. If Erica had just said: "I apologize for the miscommunication" it wouldn't have been a big deal. Instead she chose to treat me with zero respect (which mirrors my experience with the staff over the phone), and gaslight me about needing my SSN. I just did some quick research, and there are NO laws which require a patient provide their SSN at a clinic or a hospital in the state of Florida, its an OPTIONAL request. Lawyers actually recommend you don't give it for privacy reasons. And this isn't even about the SSN itself, I don't care if they need it for collections because I can pay. It's that they treated me with zero respect, they lied to me, and they didn't once have the human decency to apologize for the miscommunication. If the office manager is that poor at her job, I can see why the people who answer the phone aren't willing to treat patients with respect over the phone.

I will not be coming back to this office, which is a shame since Dr. Joy seemed really good and knowledgable. If you read this Dr. Joy, I recommend hiring a new...

Traumatizing experience I had in this center and specifically with Dr. Peter Bittar.

I first came to this location to see a hand specialist which lead to seeing Bittar. I brought up my concern for a new mole that appeared in my arm around a month before coming to the location, I'm no doctor but I had my suspicion on how odd it looked. Bittar told me he found nothing wrong with it and refused to remove it.

He kept repeating phrases like "I get payed more if I were to remove it, but I see no reason why" and "What's it going to take for me to let you know that there is nothing wrong with that mole". I was practically begging near the end if we could still remove it just to be safe and how concerned I was with it and he still refused and I just gave up asking and eventually left.

Months pass and the mole never left my mind and went to another dermatology center where they removed the mole and almost a week later the results came back as not a regular mole but "Moderate Atypia", and here I was told in this location how "There is nothing wrong with it".

A little bit after I call this institution and wanted to mention my complains and talked to the manager and they sounded in disbelief as apparently no one has ever said anything bad about the doctor, but I knew from my side I had a right to say something. They still sounded in disbelief when I was telling them my experience and just shortly after they put me on the phone with Bittar.

From start to end of the call all he was practically saying was lecturing me on how moles can be irregular, like I already don't know that. He kept dodging the question whenever I brought up all the things he said to me about the mole before. Didn't apologize or admit that he was wrong or the stuff he said that day, his level of arrogance, and overall being a bad doctor to me. I told him how he made me feel not heard or cared about during the day of consultation and was the only thing he apologized for that and didn't sound like he was sorry and more like annoyed. He brought up the apology again to further avoid admitting his mistakes.

I didn't think I wanted to leave a review at first, but after seeing the scar from the biopsy recovering recently, it reminded me of how possibly my life could have been at risk if I didn't get checked elsewhere and I feel its important to let others know about my experience to avoid such thing from happening to them. Know that there is nothing wrong with getting another opinion somewhere else and even more so if you have a suspicion that you were...

This practice is a group of people who are angels on earth. I have a serious emergency and with little hope left, they fit me in last second. This is an extremely busy practice and I see why! No matter, they spent as much time with as many people needed to help me, and explained a course of treatments for me to literally save my face. For the first time I feel hope that my situation can be remedied. I am so thankful to be a patient and so grateful to each of them for their kindness, compassion and brilliance. I will update my review as I have a long road ahead to let you all know more about why you MUST see Dr. Waibel and team. Btw I drive from Delray and it is worth every minute! Brilliant, accomplished, caring, kind and ready to help me. UPDATE: now have just finished my 3rd surgical procedure and continue to be incredibly thankful and completely grateful for these angels. The best practice, the best care, Dr. Waibel is brilliant, kind and is literally saving me. I have never had better nurses or staff anywhere. They are so loving and caring. UPDATE: 2/23 I am so incredibly grateful for these literal angels on earth who have taken such incredible care of me. Today was my sixth surgery, and we are at so much improvement if I didn’t have Dr. Waibel and all the angel nurses around me at this practice I don’t know where I would be. Patients, I’m letting you know it is worth every single minute of waiting because Dr. Waibel is one of the leading experts in this field in the nation look her up and her staff will bend over backwards to make your life better while you are dealing with these kinds of things; my face was severely burned. I felt like I had no hope and this practice this doctor and these nurses have given me all the Hope and Faith back in life I thank them from the bottom of my heart and I beg you guys if you are in trouble like I was...