Good Dermatologist in the Slope?

A lot of people in past threads about dermatologists in the slope recommend Dr. Frankel. I went to go see him based on their recommendation. He was very interested in a mole I had and much less interested in my acne (I cared more about the latter than the former since I'd had both since my teens). That being said - for a mole checkup I'd recommend him, but save your more cosmetic concerns for someone else. He has evening hours, fwiw. He also will offer you the option to have him remove the mole himself or refer you to a plastic surgeon to have it done.

One thing to note - if he determines that you should remove the mole and you decide to wait or see someone else...he will totally hound you to get it removed. Think irritated phone calls to home, cell, FedEx-ed letters, etc. Was driving me nuts, but I know he was acting in what he believed was my own best interest, so I can only be but so irked.

Dr. Frankel is great.

Toadette wrote:
One thing to note - if he determines that you should remove the mole and you decide to wait or see someone else...he will totally hound you to get it removed. Think irritated phone calls to home, cell, FedEx-ed letters, etc. Was driving me nuts, but I know he was acting in what he believed was my own best interest, so I can only be but so irked.

Yes, he's nuts. Calls, letters. Every mole is life and death. He mis-diagnosed a friend of mine. Scared him to death till he had a second opinion from Dr. Tesser. Frankel is nuts. Stay away.

veets wrote: If you think Botox will safe your life . nope... the wrong doctor.

+ 1

I went to Dr. Frankel for acne too, and ended up with a mole removed. I told five or six other people I know about him, and he removed moles from them too. He removes moles from everyone and then says he needs to continue seeing you for at least six months b/c the mole was abnormal. This is how he keeps patients. This is how he do.

Peanut.. let me guess.. the first guy you saw was Dr. Zelaya?

If I am right then I will most certainly tell you a similar story.

Re the Frankel/"responsible medicine" comments - like I said in my first post I understand where he is coming from, but I honestly think he took it too far. During the exam he asked me how long I'd had the mole, I said since childhood. He said "oh, it is probably nothing, but you should probably get that removed, yeah, I'd say you should have that removed. He referred me to two surgeons, one after another, both of whom weren't on my insurance. By then it was late December and I was going out of town for the holidays. Then the stalking started. One series of phone calls went like this:
1) His assistant called, left VM
2) I return call and tell her I'm out of the state and will set up an app't for Jan when I return.
3) Frankel calls back a few minutes later, starts in angrily "I'M JUST TRYING TO FIND OUT WHAT THE DEAL IS HERE." I say I told your assistant I'm out of town, I'll be back in two weeks and will have an appointment then. "Well that's just not good enough." I was kind of speechless at that point.

This just all seemed unprofessional. That call bothered me more than pretty much anything. When I got back to NY I had several letters and a FedEx waiting for me, all with the same form letter inside, plus multiple voicemails. It isn't like I didn't return their calls, I felt like I was being treated like some unresponsive criminal hiding from their PO...

Anyhow, it is several months later and instead of a pencil-sized mole I now have a giant pink itchy raised scar. Mole was benign, of course. And Frankel didn't return my last call asking for an acne follow-up appointment.

And I'm sorry, but seeking treatment for adult acne is not the same as looking for botox. Maybe I'm not going to die from it but it is impacting my quality of life and last I checked acne is a perfectly reasonable thing to seek a dermatologist for. I'm not one of those crying wolf people who goes to the doctor for every little ailment and demands antibiotics. I'm sensitive about wasting professionals' time. I even googled it, looking for advice on just how bad acne should be before seeking professional help. But the acne had been going on for years, getting steadily worse, not better, and I thought it was finally time. Not to mention my mom said I should go. >_>

Well put, Tyrone