While the facility is clean and nice and the staff is kind, Dr. Thaler does not get a good grade from me.
My 8 year old son went there today with a red patch on his skin. She diagnosed it as Lichen NItidus and gave him a cream to help with the irritation.
She then asked if he has any allergies to which the reply was no. When my son cutely responded that his cousin has asthma, she then eagerly asked if my son ever has a cough at night. The response was "only when he has a cold, but it goes away." She then adamantly said, in front of my son, "a cough at night is asthma" and "he needs steroids". She went on to then say, "is it a cough from H-E-L-L?" (My son can obviously spell and knew what she was spelling.) She also asked, "does he get tired when he is exercising, because there is exercise asthma...?" Of course, my son said that he gets tired sometimes (he plays basketball, football, baseball, soccer, rock climbing, swimming without problems). She again said that he has asthma.
How infuriating. I am a respiratory therapist and know full well that my son does not have asthma. She is not a pulmonologist or general practitioner. She is a dermatologist and should not speak about things she does not practice. She certainly should not diagnose him as having asthma without any clinical check of his airway. It's absurd.
A few years ago, I went to this same dermatologist for a skin tag on my shoulder. Ultimately, after talking to her about the fact that I have a blemish roughly every month that lasts a long time, she plainly told me I need Accutane. I was confused sitting there on the exam table. The very second Dr. Thaler left the room, the nurse immediately turned to me to say, "DON'T get that treatment. You do NOT need it." Thank God she was there to advise me. I did a ton of research later about the treatment and learned that it is for people with severe acne--something I didn't come close to having and that the treatment has some pretty ugly COMMON side effects.
This doctor seems to be very extreme and has no tact. read more