DO NOT TRUST DR. RAJ WITH YOUR CARE. If I could give zero stars, I would. He is a liar and a cheat who leaves procedures half-finished to trick you into coming back in multiple times so he can charge you for it. His practice manager Cindy Marx is the most hateful woman in healthcare I've ever had the displeasure to work with, and Dr. Raj is condescending and rude.
I went in to have 2 cysts removed, one behind my left ear and one above my left eye. I noticed the cyst on my eye in September, couldn't get in to see a different dermatologist until December, at which time they referred me to Dr. Raj, who couldn't get me in for a consult until January and didn't get me scheduled for cyst removal until February. At the January consult, his staff took a photo of my cysts and put them on file in his clinical records. Between the consult and the procedure, the cyst on my eye had grown inflamed and grown a few cm to the right. On the day of the procedure I showed him how it had grown and he assured me, both before AND during the procedure that he'd get it all. I got home and lo and behold, it was still there--he'd only removed the inflamed portion of the cyst, NOT the original cyst with the dark pocket of matter I'd originally gone in for. His practice manager Cindy accused me of being "too anxious" and that I'd "yelled at her" over the phone (I was crying, yes, because I was rightly upset that Dr. Raj had only removed half the cyst that was and still is VERY visible on my face!) and told me that I was being ridiculous because I'd gone back into the hospital to have the surgical nurses look at it. Cindy was very snotty to me when I asked to be seen sooner than my follow-up for stitches removal, and though she did fit me in, she sat in on the appointment with Dr. Raj when she had absolutely no business being in the room. Additionally, she admitted to me that she and Dr. Raj discussed my case at their staff meeting that morning, which is a violation of HIPPA.
When I called Dr. Raj out on his blatant mistake in missing half the cyst, he changed his story three times (first that there wasn't a cyst at all, despite him having a photo of it on file in his own clinical records, then that the cyst was too far from the new inflammation to remove, then that the cyst was too CLOSE to the new inflammation to remove) and tried to spin it around on me as though it was my fault that he did not remove the full cyst. He tried to say that I had told him that the inflamed part was the only part of the cyst (a lie), and that he had marked exactly where I pointed (the truth--the mark was still on my face, right in the center between his incision and the original cyst. He did not cut where he had marked). He also later lied on record to the hospital ombudsman to avoid facing any consequences for his lies and inadequate care, but insisted that he would make sure to get the rest out...so long as I came back in and allowed myself to be charged by him a second time.
Also, the other cyst behind my ear that he removed at that same appointment? He sewed it up with a badly done whip stitch, and now it has left a keloid scar that is more intrusive and painful than the cyst he removed.
I'll now have to go back to the original dermatologist to have it removed, which they didn't want to do initially because they weren't confident they could do it without scarring. Well, now I have scarring AND the cyst is still there, so I'd rather scar than leave whatever this dark pocket is in my face any longer. It's been 8 months at this point.
Take your care elsewhere--a terrible surgeon and a terrible practice who only cares about your money. I will never set foot in his practice again, and I advise you do the same. read more