Raleigh Dermatology Associates

I read all of these reviews and I couldn't agree more with Leif P.'s review. This practice is only interested in making money. I saw Dr. Puente as a patient a few times but I made my decision never to return. I am a nurse and I noticed during my visits there that they reuse suture material. I noticed this when I allowed the practice to perform a biopsy on me. They don't take out new suture material. They reuse used sutures by other patients by sterilizing them and then repackaging it. It is not in its original, brand new packaging. I have many years experience as a registered nurse in dermatology and I have never seen any other dermatology practice sterilize sutures and reuse them on patients. This puts patients at risk for infectious diseases such as HIV. \r As a matter of fact, I checked Dr. Puente's credentials as a Moh's surgeon. He has no fellowship training in Moh's. He took some courses and is legally able to perform Moh's surgery, but he has never had fellowship training. If you check the database for certified Moh's surgeons with fellowship training, he will not be listed.\r I advise against going to this practice for any kind of evaluation. more

I have visited this practice 4 times in the last two months. I think that the Dr. as well as the rest of the medical staff that I have encountered are polite and knowledgeable as well as patient in their dealings with me. However, the office staff is quite another story. They have personal conversations that have to be finished before they can turn their attention to the patient. If you make a request of them such as a return phone call concerning benefit questions, or an estimate for future services they look around at one another as if they have never heard such a thing. I was sent to two different offices across the hall from the reception desk to retrieve paperwork they needed me to fill out to request an estimate during two of my visits. Both times the employees in the offices seemed bothered by my interupting them when I had been sent to their offices by the front desk staff. These employees then rolled their eyes and went to the front desk to tell them that they were supposed to be giving out these forms. I actually had to call back after 5 days because I had still not received a call about the estimate I requested. For my second estimate I actually waited to see how long it would take for them to contact me and finally at day 15 I called to speak to the office manager. I voiced all of my concerns but I do not believe that any action has been taken. I am going to schedule future visits at another practice. \r \r The basics:\r -Great Doctor (Dr. Wanda Bronstein)\r -Horrible customer service and patient treatment by the office staff. \r more

Melanie Adams is very pleasant and I have nothing but great things to say about her! I recently transferred my Dermatology care to this practice, and am very pleased with my decision. more

I have had trouble with circulation to my feet since a stroke 6 years ago. After treatment I needed to address a poor skin condition. I went to see Dr. Puente in February of 2012. He was notably irritated when he entered the room, and threw a fit saying that conditions like this could be life threatening, and prescribed a creme and a lotion, and emphasized that I had to pick it up as soon as possible, and start using the next morning. He wanted to double my Lasik, and was going to speak to me regular Doctor. The nurse said the prescription would be sent in before lunch and available 2 hours after that. The prescription was not sent in, after calling back and asking the office a number of times (I got hung up on several times, by accident) He finally prescribed the medicine. Worried about the increase in Lasiks (which he did not prescribe either), I contacted my regular doctor. Dr. Puente had not contacted that Doctor (three days later). My Regular dr. consulted with my Heart specialist and concluded that Lasik should be reduced if anything, and did not seem to benefit the situation. When I came for my return appointment I asked Dr. Puente if he had contacted my Dr. and what the result was. He did not have an answer about the outcome but said, yes he did. I said he did not according to my follow up with the Dr. He threw a fi and yelled""Are you calling me a liar?"" I responded that it was a question of conflicting opinions. He angrily turned to the nurse and said ""did we not contact dr...."" The Nurse did not answer, he turned to me again and said ""Are you calling me a liar?"" he then said, ""I am just trying to help you and you are calling me a liar I am not going to help someone like that, get out!"" in a very emotional state. I showed no emotion through this ordeal. "" I Stated, ""Fine, I do not find you competent and will be glad to leave."" Dr. Puente calmed down, and said I will now do the examination. He did and concluded that things looked better, he added that he had added a anti-biotic, which I should have picked up (again impossible since he did not inform me). The nurse applied a small amount of gauze to my leg and I went to check out. At checkout the attendant said ""What is this?"", I had no idea what she was talking about, and asked what she was talking about. She pointed to a checked item on the report that said ""unna boot"". not knowing what this meant in this report, I said that is a mistake, I have used a Unna Boot in the past, but I put it on at home, the nurse did no such thing here. Instead of taking my word for it, she said ""I Will have to check with the nurses"" and stormed of. She was gone for 10-20 minutes and came back and angrily said, OK, we will let you slide this time. About a week later I received an invoice from Raleigh Dermatology, They invoiced said Unna Boot again. I called in and spoke to a person in Billing, I stated that I had not received an Unna Boot, she replied that she could not check that, so just pay the bill. I got mad and said ""No, you check it right now"" I Waited for 10-20 minutes on Hold and then the Office Manager got on the line. She told me the charge was for an Unna Boot. and she had just spoken to Dr. Puente about the matter. I said I did not get one, and she said, ""I have to check on that, and have to call you back"". She also stated that I had gotten two Unna Boots, one also in my first appointment. That is a complete lie. I cancelled all my outstanding appointments with Dr. Puente. In conclusion. I recommend strongly against seeing this Doctor. He is emotional, unprofessional and incompetent. I have to blame him, because at every stage he was seemingly involved. He does not seem to be concerned about prescribing potentially harmful medicine. He seems only interested in billing more, not a recipe to become a top notch medical practitioner. more

My brother is a high functioning Autistic Adult. I called Raleigh Dermatology due to his severe acne, i had read a few positive reviews and decided to give them a try. I talked to the receptionist many times before our visit explaining to her our situation. He will not sit for more than 10 seconds in the waiting room, alot of people in one area over stimulate him and cause him to stem(a medical term for autistic individuals). It is hard to keep him calm when he is out of his routine. So when we arrived I checked him in and we waited and waited and waited and waited for over and hour. If they would have expressed their neglegence to my concerns WE COULD HAVE WENT TO THE PARK OR something and waited for them to call. Anyhow, when we got back to our room ( by this point he was pacing, over stimulated but still smiling) we then waited another thirty minutes. When the doctor came in she was not friendly in fact she shunned away from him, almost if she was scared, it was heart breaking to see a professional scared of a harmless autistic adult. She lifted his shirt took a look and said ok I will have the nurse give you his perscription. I had to interupt her as she was leaving the room to ask her some questions about the perscription and the cost. She was literally in the room less that 3 minutes. When we got to the payment area as I was writing out the payment he began greeting the ladies working with his usual noices and happy smile. They all just sat their. It made me realize that people need to open their eyes to the community of special needs individuals, they are there, and they deserve the same level of respect and professionalism as anyone else. WE will Never go their again. I have told everyone I KNOW this horrific experience. Cons: Waited over an hour, doctor met for less than 3 minutes more

I see Dr. Laing for acne and she's wonderful. She's friendly, she listens and she's fast yet doesn't rush through things. Her office is run efficiently as well - I've never had to wait more than 5-10 minutes for my appointment time. Pros: Friendly more

I first went to Raleigh Dermatology because I wanted a second opinion on 3 recommended surgeries.( I had had a pre-cancerous mole removed just prior at a different dermatologist.) Raleigh Derm was planning on ordering the slides from the first lab to send to their lab. A week later I called and it still was not done. They rudely told me that my file was on someone's desk and was forgotten.\r \r After they finally got the second opinion, they had me come in for a follow up. When I went in the receptionist wouldn't even let me tell her my name when I walked in the door but handed me a clipboard to write it. She refused to talk to me and check me in until 15 minutes after I was there but she just sat starring for those 15 minutes, doing nothing. There were about 30 people sitting in the waiting room and 10 walked in after me. She didn't take care of any of them until they had been there a while too. I never saw anyone in my life so slow.\r \r Then I sat in the waiting room over an hour and a more