I went to Dr. Chang at Verdugo Dermatology in 2019 for a case of scaling of the scalp. What should have been a simple treatment of harmless topicals and shampoo turned into me being intimidated into being given unnecessary medications that devastated my physical and mental health. Dr. Chang insisted on prescribing me Finasteride, a hair loss medication that blocks the conversion of testosterone in the brain. I was not suffering from male pattern baldness due to any kind of genetic or hormonal reason, so this medication was very inappropriate for her to give me. I clearly expressed that I did not want to take this drug when she first told me about it, but later on when my next appointment came along she strongly pressured me to take it. She said: "If I was you I would take it", and "If you don't take it you'll lose all your hair". This was wildly irresponsibe of her and I was so desperate to clear up my scalp that I reluctantly caved in to her pressure. After a few weeks of taking this medication, I developed erectile dysfunction and an extremely severe loss in libido, I also experienced memory problems and brain fog. This helped ruin the relationship I was in at the time with my very first serious girlfriend and I have still not recovered from the well known side effects of the Finasteride. I literally never ever had any type of libido or erectile issues in my entire life until I took Finasteride and I have been so incredibly upset about this for over two years.
Additionally, Dr. Chang aggressively insisted on giving me Kenalog steroid injections without explaining to me any potential side effects. The steroid injections caused me to rapidly gain 40lbs uncontrollably. I was 25 years old and had never experienced any weight fluctuations in my entire adult life until she administered these intramuscular steroid shots into my rear. She also gave me dozens of small but painful Kenalog shots directly into my scalp.
I truly feel that I was not given fully informed consent prior to being prescribed these drugs. When encouraging me to take the Finasteride, Dr. Chang said that it could cause a loss of libido that is sometimes permanent. My initial and correct reaction was to want nothing to do with something that sounded so dangerous and I am appalled that a doctor would even suggest giving such a drug to a young man for something as superficial as slight hairloss from a scalp condition. She did not explain how it worked, only that there was about a 1% chance of side effects but did not go into detail regarding the full range of side effects that this drug often causes. I didn't even understand how it was supposed to help me, I was seeking treatment for a growth of scales on my scalp, not for baldness. I feel so stupid for not researching it more myself and for taking this horrible drug.
She also pressured me into having a biopsy where her and another doctor cut off a small chunk of my scalp to be examined in a lab. Again, I expressed that I did not want this procedure but she persisted and kept pressuring me into having the biopsy.
I feel incredibly violated and like my concerns and commonsense wellbeing were not respected by this doctor.
I walked into her office a very healthy and normal young man with a relatively trivial scalp issue. I left her office 40lbs overweight and with potentially permanent damage to my libido, cognition, and sexual functioning. All of which was avoidable and unnecessary. I have had to suffer through real trauma from this experience every day since and it has been the single worst decision of my life to listen to her medical advice. Please exercise extreme caution when being talked into having a procedure or taking a medication from this office. read more