Pros: They take my insurance, and it's very easy to get an appointment with them quickly.
Also, their plastic surgeon Dr. David Wrone, is first rate. He removed a large infected cyst from my neck about a year ago, and the scar (it was right below my jaw line) is close to invisible, and will probably be 100% gone in another year or two.
Cons: The reason it's so quick to get an appointment is that you'll never see an actual doctor there, just the M.A. (medical assistant). If you want to see the doctor, that's about a 1-2 month wait (in late June I was told not until August).
I think this in turn leads to potentially bad advice, and things falling through the cracks.
Example: during my last appointment, I thought that since a spot on the top of my thigh had become pink, then scabbed up, the exact same spot, multiple times, and since my dad died of malignant melanoma, that it might warrant concern. The M.A. (not a doctor) said it didn't look like a melanoma, that it was a skin "erosion", and prescribed a skin creme for 1 month, with a follow up in 2 months.
The instructions right on the creme say if you don't see healing in 5 days, call your doctor.
It IS healing, and I have the good sense to follow the more cautious of the 2 recommendations (the one on the product).
But so many people will follow whichever advice sounds like the easier one, especially if it means they don't have to see a doctor again.
The M.A. says apply this for a month and come back in 2 months. The makers of the skin creme say you should see healing in 5 days, if not maybe there's a problem. That says to me that the M.A.'s advice is potentially a recipe for letting skin cancers advance and perhaps metastasize. Thus, a recipe for deaths that could have been prevented, with more caring and more vigilance.
I'll still use them to get something seen quick, and to get a quick prescription. But I will double check anything they say, because I think they just churn through the appointments quick as they can, to maximize the $. I don't think they really care that much if their approach costs a patient his life, once in a while. read more
