Insight Dermatology

I recently saw Dr. Pontasch to determine why I kept itching. She is the third dermatologist I have seen about this issue this month. The first one let me sit in a 60 degree room for 40 minutes in a miniature paper gown. (The office was empty.) I left before meeting her.
The second performed what I would have to call «drive by medicine». He basically stood about 4 feet away and told me I had hives and needed a steroid cream. It didn’t help. My bill was $ 150 for a five minutes visit.
I didn’t have high expectations about yet another visit, but surprisingly I saw Dr. Pontasch within 5 minutes of my appointment time. Although she looks like she is 18, she instilled confidence right away. (I forgot to ask her about her skin regimen since she is 32.) She made great eye contact, actually TOUCHED my skin and explained the problem. She said that steroid cream was not appropriate and went over some reasons for the issue.
It seems like dealing with dermatology is now beneath dermatologists and they would much rather shoot you with Botox or fillers than deal with why they should have chosen this profession in the first place. It’s so good to know that doctors like her still exist.

Dr. Chen has a very calm, deliberate manner. He conducts the full body exam quickly, efficiently, and gently. During my exam, he identified two precancerous spots on my nose which are being treated with a cream. He also froze two other potential problem areas on my chest and hand. The last thing he did during the exam was biopsy a questionable mole. Turns out the mole was affected by early stage melanoma. Today the remaining tissue related to the offending mole was painlessly removed. Dr. Chen again demonstrated his skills in taking care of business while making me feel at ease. I highly recommend Dr. Chen.

I just got out of my first appointment EVER with a dermatologist and decided to go to Insight Dermatology due to their great reviews on Unilocal.I met Dr. Heather Pontasch who was an absolute delight. Dr. Pontasch makes you feel very comfortable and relaxed by greeting you with a smile and providing immediate professional insight to your concern. I seriously was extremely impressed with her ability to instantly connect with me as a patient and make me feel like I was her only priority at that moment by the way she gave me her full attention. I wasn’t rushed at all and was given a careful examination which was definitely reassuring. The lobby is a little small but it wasn’t really a big deal because the staff was super friendly and I was seen without having waited long at all. This place is a MUST for all of your skin care needs. If you’re going somewhere else, I promise you it’s second to Insight Dermatology because there is no way their professionalism and service takes a back seat to any other providers in San Diego. Thanks again to the staff and Dr. Pontasch for the peace-​of-​mind and confidence you allowed me to walk out with. 100% satisfied!

I found insight dermatology via Unilocal!I’m always a little cautious of changing doctors (mine relocated) but so glad I did. Dr. Chen and his office staff are amazing with great bedside manners! Dr. Chen removed 3 moles and I didn’t feel a thing (I’m the biggest wussy too). I’m very glad to have found his office. One satisfied gal! Thank you Veronica, office MA, and Doc for a great satisfying experience! Will be back!

We took our young toddler in to have her molluscum treated. Dr Pontasch was so sweet with her, answered all our questions, and did not make us feel bad for the fact that our daughter had a pretty bad case of these little things for a while. Her skin is looking so much better and no scarring! So thankful we found her!

This is just a way of saying thank you and show how much I appreciate the way Dr. Bryan Chen shows his concern on my condition. I am so glad that I came across with Dr. Chen. Also the friendly and BEAUTIFUL staff of this clinic. THANK YOU

Located off the 15 off Mercy Road (become Scripps Poway Pkwy), when you make a right on Wexford, it’s the end of the cul-​de-​sac on the left side (left side of parking lot). Plenty of parking, super easy. Glad I found Dr. Heather Pontasch thru Unilocal and she was in network w/​my insurance.
Just needed an annual skin check up, plus some dry skin stuff. Loved that she didn’t try to sell me a bunch of crap! lol, I’ve been to other derm. offices where they really push products/​services. I don’t like to use chemicals/​meds as much as possible. lol I told her I used coconut oil and she said that was fine.
Great bedside manner, very friendly, sweet and seemed knowledgable. I felt that she thoroughly checked my moles, and yay, nothing abnormal/​no skin cancer! I’m good to go ’til next year.
FYI: they’re closed 12 – 1 for lunch so if you have a 1pm appt. you don’t have to come 10 – 15 min early, as the door is locked. Dang, I could’ve done a ClassPass class down the street haha.
Quick, easy check in, really no wait, just how I like it. She’s my new skin doc.
The bonus? She thought I was in my 20s! How flattering!

Dr. Bryan K. Chen, as far as my surgery went, is about as good as it gets. He is extremely precise, PROFESSIONAL, tell the patient what the procedure will involve, friendly and CARING. His office staff is also of the same… friendly, caring and approachable for the patient. I was impressed… so much so that I have shared my very good experience with my friends in the area. My surgery was 9÷22÷2015 and it has healed beautifully. Dr. Chen’s, office assistant, helped me to set up the appointment with the plastic surgeon, after the Mohs method was done and without a doubt… the plastic surgeon was excellent. The plastic surgeon was scheduled the following day after the actual facial surgery performed by Dr. Chen and it was coordinated by the assistant in Dr. Chen’s office. I was so impressed by this assistant’s helping me to set up my surgery with the plastic surgeon because I was quite overwhelmed when I realized I needed facial surgery to begin with. I wish to thank Dr. Chen for his very kind and thoughtful approach with this patient. I wish him and his staff health, and continued success to assist others who require this type of surgery. I feel, overall, Dr. Chen and his staff are about as good as it gets! Blessings. Rita Pastore Rast November 11, 2015

My face is looking great!
I just had my «moles» (or little benign tumors as they actually are) removed yesterday! I still have some scabbing left of my face but it is healing very quickly. Dr. Chen did a fantastic job. He was precise, thorough and fast. I would guess somewhere around 60 – 80 of these things were removed from my face, neck and shoulders. He also made sure I had clear care instructions for the next month and gave me a few samples to hold me over the next week.
I definitely recommend this facility and Dr. Chen for mole, skin tag or other removals and especially if you have darker skin. You really have to be careful that your dermatologist knows how to gently handle darker skin because it behaves so differently and I can confidently say Dr. Chen is a wonderful dermatologist!

Dr Cole removed a skin tag and i must say he did a pretty good job. The staff is responsible.

My husband and I both go to Dr. Cole. He is very kind, thorough, and knowledgeable. He made sure I knew my ABCDE’s (identifying potential skin cancer). Other dermos I’ve gone to just hand me a pamphlet and never cared enough to make sure I knew what to look for. He almost always runs on time, which is a huge deal! His office staff is very nice as well. They give samples too– I’m a sucker for samples.

Dr Bryan Chen is fantastic! He is so kind and always listens to me. He has the best bedside manner and makes me feel confident in my chronic condition.

I have never had such a bad experience with a doctor in my life.
I read reviews on this doctor and he was supposed to be the best, but when it came to see me, it was like he was a completely different doctor. I went in for a diagnosis on the acne that keeps recurring and he didn’t even look at my face! What dermatologist can diagnose from halfway across the room. After explaining to him I’ve been dealing with this for a long time and I am frustrated, I was hoping to get his expert opinion, but no, the only thing he could recommend was ACUTANE??! Acutane is for extreme acne cases, which I am sooo far from. I told him products that have somewhat worked for me in the past, but weren’t great, so he said lets just do those. So he prescribed me those and when I went to the pharmacy I couldn’t even afford what he prescribed, almost $ 450! All I know, is this was the worst experience, I’ve ever had!
I had a much better experience with the CVS Minute clininc doctor, who actually cared to help me. I don’t know if this doctor saw what insurance I had and treated me like crap :(
This just makes me super upset. I also had to pay for this visit, which I got nothing out of and lasted maybe 5 – 10 minutes! I gave a 1 Star because I wasn’t able to give a 0.
After I posted this review the doctor followed up and apologized, which I very much appreciated and tried to rectify the situation. Thank you.

Dr. Cole is amazing and helped me with my acne. First try he got it right and my skin has been great ever since. He’s so nice and makes you feel like he’s really there to help. The staff is amazing and has great customer service skills. Dr. Chen is ok, he prescribed me a face wash that made my face even worse and talked about prescribing me other products even tho the product Dr. cole originally prescribed me had given my face very much progress. Stuck with Dr. Coles original product and a year later I havent even had to go back. This place is awesome!!!

Pros:
–easy to find location, lots of free parking
–comfortable waiting and exam rooms; pleasant and private
–very friendly and accommodating front end staff that answers all your questions well
–super easy and quick to make an appointment
–Medical assistant take a thorough background and explains everything before ou see the doctor
–Dr Chen is pleasant and thorough. He seemed quite knowledgeable and gave me good, honest advice. He recommended one of his products, but didn’t push it on me and said it was fine to continue using my own if I wanted.
–The office offers a ton of other cosmetic services (botox, juvaderm, laser hair removal, acne scar treatment etc) at reasonable/​competitive prices.
Cons:
–Dr Chen was as a little quick to dismiss some of my concerns, but I think that’s because he knows what is a legitimate concern and what isn’t. Still, he didn’t explain everything with as much detail as I would have liked and used a lot of «oh, its just a cyst» type explanations.
Overall, I am pleased with the initial visit and am confident that Dr Chen would provide me with professional, thorough, competent and unbiased treatment in the future.

Update to last update. Dr. Chen called me yet again. He inquired about the hand and how it was healing. The hand is doing beautifully. If he hadn’t given me antibiotics I would have had no problems. The scar is very minimal.
Before the conversation ended he asked if I could please remove the review that I had previously written. Are you kidding me? I believe that Dr. Chen has learned from the mistake that had been done. I believe he is a good doctor, but Unilocal is a place for honest feed back. Dr. Chen, learn from your mistake and let this go!

Had to go back for a cyst on my forehead. Dr. Chen is great, super calm, very patient and seems confident in his knowledge (which I found reassuring). The minor surgery was done while I was awake and watching him cut right above my eye. He was very conciousness of what I was feeling and because of some «creeping» sensation, he stopped and applied more pain killer (greatly appreciated btw). Can’t say I’m an expert on surgery practices or what the experience is supposed to be like, but he (and his staff) made this situation seem perfectly normal and helped to keep me calm. If I need anything else related to skin care, Dr. Chen is my first choice.

One cannot find a front office staff more personable, caring and kind. The women who work in the front are AMAZING!
Dr. Cole is who I see and I am very happy with the level off are I receive from him. He has treated three areas with me: face, feet, and ankle – I have weird sensitive skin that was not truly addressed my two previous dermatologists. :(
Initially when my primary care doctor had to refer me to a dermatologist he gave me several doctors’ names and their office locations. He told me that Dr. Chen, though located in Scripps Ranch, was right off of the freeway and in so many words, told me that going out to Scripps Ranch was worth the drive.
I made my appointment pretty last minute as I have a very hectic work schedule and wanted to get into see the dermatologist sooner rather than later (within the week) I was able to see Dr. Cole. LOVE HIM! Dr. Cole is also worth the North San Diego commute.
Note: I live close to downtown SD but commute up north (and will continue to do so) as long my insurance allows me to have Dr. Cole.

This is the worst place I have ever gone to. I waited for over an hour to see Dr. Cole and he was done examining me in two minutes. I was concerned with acne and I hoped to speak with him about these concerns, but he didn’t even give me time to ask any questions, and prescribed medication in such a hurry that I didn’t even get directions on how to use it.
I had hoped that I was paying to be listened to and could have my questions answered, but Dr. Cole didn’t have the slightest interest in helping me in that manner. I read these reviews before I went to try this place and had such high hopes for it, but after going, I am seriously questioning who writes these reviews and want to warn everyone that this place is nowhere near a 4 – 5 star rating. I will never be going back to this place after having such a horrible experience.

I first went here about two years ago but then saw another local dermatologist because she was on t.v. Big mistake! Lesson learned & now I’m a faithful faithful patient. My tween goes here now too!
Dr. Chen and his staff are very knowledgable & helpful with trying to get my daughter back to her beautiful skin. It’s taking time but eventually it will happen.