Westside Dermatology

Love that it is conveniently located with easy parking. Don’t like at all that there are inept office staff that try to deal with things for which they have no training. Also, every prescription renewal that I’ve needed has taken ridiculously long. Some of these renewals have also entailed prior-​authorizations with the insurance company — these take an amount of time that is beyond ridiculous. They shouldn’t; this is quite standard for higher-​priced prescription drugs. It seems like the person responsible for this is overloaded. She even told me on the phone that she didn’t have time to deal with my request. I will be switching clinics. These prescription renewal issues on top of the exceedingly long waiting times for a doctor to finally get to the exam room at every appointment (always at least 30 min late) is really not acceptable. This clinic is seriously overbooked and understaffed.

Dr Luchetti was incredibly rude. I wish I had not been in such a passive mood or I would have told her so. I would not ever go back to her again for any reason. Terrible bedside manner!

Dr. Kendal Wilske is my doctor. She has been for two years. I absolutely love her and she is so relaxed and nice to have as a doctor. She has taken better care of me than any other dermatologist I have ever had and I’m blond with fair skin, so I’ve seen a few. There is skin cancer in my family so she knows my fears and she is very good about putting them all to rest.
I have to drive a fair distance to get to her as I live in Bonney Lake, but she is worth it,.

I saw Dr Arntzen Wednesday 9÷23÷15 and it was an excellent experience. She clearly knows her stuff and has lots of experience. I had a number or questions about my condition but she willingly answered them all, and her suggested treatment has already shown positive results.
After reading some of the negative reviews here, I feel compelled to educate people a bit. For a regular appointment, versus a procedure, doctors are scheduled at 15 minute intervals, regardless of how much time you want or feel you deserve. This is an effect of our broken health care insurance system. Too many patients, and I have been guilty of this myself, bring to an appointment a laundry list of issues or questions that are impossible to cover or answer in 15 minutes, rather than make appointments as the issues arise. Because the doctors at Westside clearly make helping patients top priority, this type of patient causes delays. I’ve been going to Westside for six years. Sometimes I have to wait a while, sometimes I don’t. I see several doctors at different health care facilities and I always have to wait. If you have a lot of questions, your doctor may need to exit, see a patient with fewer questions, and return to you.
There is a national shortage of dermatologist, partly because it is the most difficult speciality to learn. If you have an emergency, go to an Urgent Care facility. Otherwise, expect to wait for an appointment, and expect wait in the waiting room. Stop blaming doctors for conditions that are out of their control.

UPDATE: So I talked to my insurance company, two months after I initially asked for the breakdown of charges, I received them so I was able to go back to my insurance company. There had been some sort of problem, as for that one doctors visit, they had 9 claims, so there must have been a mistake on the part of the insurance agency. After explaining it to me, there did seem to have been a miscommunication on the part of the insurance company to both west side dermatology and me, and so I will pay the additional $ 172 on top of the full payment my insurance company already paid, and on top of the separate copay and insurance payout for the lab. All in all, for the visit alone, including the copay that I paid but they claim they don’t have a record of– they will have received a total of $ 270 for the visit, not including the lab charges, which is well above the normal first time visit price range ($ 100 on the low range, $ 200 on the high range).
However, paying $ 270 for an appointment in which I was not satisfied about their level of care is annoying. However, while exorbitantly expensive, if that is what I owe, I’ll pay it. My fault for not doing more research.
However, in trying to get this all figured out, their billing department has been a nightmare. It is unacceptable to have a patient ask for breakdown of the bill, medical records and a resubmission to the insurance with more rationale, agree to do all these things, then not do it and not answer any of the follow up phone calls and send the bill straight to collections. Even after they finally returned my 3^rd phone call, I still had to follow up yet again with them a fourth time to get them to send the breakdown of the bill, and I believe they only sent that because they saw my initial Unilocal review. Even in the case that the charges were entirely justifiable, a patient should have access to see what they are being charged for. I also asked to see my medical records, they told me that the doctor has to agree to release it, and it could take up to two weeks. I talked to a few other doctors, and while they said that sometimes it does happen, it isn’t normal protocol as medical records belong to the patients, so that was odd.

I have gone to Dr. Sonya Krejei for over 14 years and she is wonderful. She takes the time to chat with me, she is very thorough and does not remove things without thoughtful examinations. In the 14 years, I have only had two small procedures. My entire family goes to her and I would recommend her highly She has just moved to this office from downtown and it is very easy to find and free parking in the lot connected to the building.

This rating applies to Dr. Wilske. I have seen her three times. She usually was running very late and the appointments were extremely rushed.
I had reservations about her diagnoses because of her rushed exams and several of her recommendations. I went to another dermatologist for a second opinion and learned that Dr. Wilske’s diagnoses were incorrect, and two especially could have had serious consequences for me.
She gave me a sample of a spray-​on steroid to treat some small bumps on my scalp, telling me it might not work but it would make my hair feel soft. When I expressed concern about using steroids unnecessarily, she told me that skin doesn’t absorb the steroids or anything else so there was no reason for concern. And she recommended using tar shampoo or Head and Shoulders for ongoing treatment to keep the bumps from getting worse. I learned from the second dermatologist that the bumps were actinic keratoses and the proper treatment is to freeze them using liquid nitrogen. They are a precancerous growth caused by sun exposure.
Dr. Wilske gave me samples for what she said could be a fungal infection when I showed her a mark on my toenail. The second dermatologist asked if something had fallen on my toe as it was apparent that it was an injury caused by a trauma to my toenail, and not a fungus.
Dr. Wilske strongly recommended a topical antibiotic for my face, saying that I might have rosacea, despite the fact that I have no symptoms and that I told her that I didn’t want to treatment for something that wasn’t a problem. She told me that a relative had tried this approach and that the problem went away. I repeated that I didn’t feel it was a problem and she encouraged treatment anyway. The second dermatologist told me that I do not have rosacea and explained the reasons that my complexion is a little more rosy than most, including the fact that I run warmer than most people, and encouraged me to use cool water and stay out of hot environments (which I do, because I’m always warm and seek out cooler situations.)
Dr. Wilske did what was supposed to be a full-​body skin exam that took all of maybe 2 minutes, at most, super rushed and all the while talking about other subjects. The second dermatologist took well over 5 minutes, approaching it fully focused and asking pertinent questions, using a magnifier several times to check areas sometimes two to three times, and carefully checked my feet, both top and bottom, which Dr. Wilske did not do. There was no comparison between the two exams.
I asked Dr. Wilske about some discoloration of my skin along my calves. She told me what it was (I don’t remember what the condition is called) and said that nothing can be done about it and that it would get worse over time. The other dermatologist told me that it was caused by poor circulation as the result of varicose veins and there were several things I could do to slow the onset, including moving my feet to help the circulation, and keep my feet up whenever I am able to do so.
Dr. Wilske easily provides samples, which would be great if they were the proper treatment. although her instructions on their use are incomplete and seemingly an afterthought as she was leaving the room. And during followup appointments, she contradicted what she had told me to do (2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, then repeat until next visit eight weeks later. Then when I came in for my followup, she told me that I should have stopped using the product if the spot went away.)
In addition, a friend’s mother went to this clinic for many years, and recently, over the course of several months had repeated visits to check a suspicious spot on her face. Her doctor at Westside Dermatology recommended just continuing to watch it. After more than six months of appointments, she went to a different dermatologist, who diagnosed it as advanced skin cancer that required immediate surgery by a plastic surgeon. It turned out to be a very serious and scary situation for her, that should have been caught much earlier by Westside Dermatology. That doctor recently left Westside Dermatology but because of the rushed examinations and inaccurate diagnoses by Dr. Wilske, I wanted to include it in this review.

Returned for Botox by Dr. Collyer, and am so far quite pleased with the results.
I was very nervous about some of the side-​effects. I had really scared myself with all those awful stories & photos online… to the point that I was feeling light-​headed while waiting for the doctor.
Dr. Collyer was reassuring once again, and he did the injections very carefully. He understood that I don’t want to look like plastic. He warned me that the existing lines in my forehead might smooth out some, but that Botox doesn’t make existing lines disappear. He also suggested that I get additional injections between my eyes, right above my nose. He wasn’t pushy about it though. I decided to forego the additional injections until I saw the results of the first round.
3 days later I started to see some effects from the botox, and after 4 days I could see my final results. I am very pleased. I took photos each day, and I can’t believe how different I look. There is some very minor distortion, in that since the injections were higher in my forehead, my lower brow still wrinkles up but the upper brow remains still. I think that’s why he suggested the additional injections. Though the existing lines (resting face) aren’t completely gone, they have been significantly reduced.
I really love the results so far. I look younger, and my face looks so much better. I am also very pleased that the results don’t look «fake».

Never saw a Doc here. I caledl this morning (I think I talked to Jacob) and told him of the pain I was experiencing because ot the breakout on my hands. He really did not appear to know what he was doing — waiting a long time between questions etc. I was on the phone with him for at least 5 minutes. I was willing to wait for 1 or 2 days and then he told me the first appt I could get was in June. Come on! I don’t buy that. Will never try this office again.

I am done with waiting between 30 and 45 minutes EVERY single time I have an appointment. It has not mattered which doctor I have the appointment with. I am not the first one who has complained about this as they have a sign in their reception area asking you to let the front desk know if you are waiting more than 15 minutes. I did this on my past visit (after 20 minutes) and they assured me I would just be another 10 minutes or so to get to an exam room but could not tell me how long it would be to see the doctor after that. My time is equally as important as their time. If I ran my business using their business model I would be OUT of business. you would think they could figure out their scheduling by now. They are not a new business.

Don’t know if this is the usual but I’ve been waiting for 45 minutes and still no sign of the doctor.

I had my first appointment with Dr. Kelli Arntzen today at Westside Dermatology and I have NEVER had a better experience with a doctor. For someone who works herself up over medical issues and absolutely loathes going in for an appointment– she was the nicest, most comforting and down-​to-​earth doctor I have met. She was so caring and understanding and she put me at ease immediately. By the end we were laughing and sharing stories with each other… whaaaat? :)
I have had problems in the past with horrible doctors who never listened, would get irritated with my questions, cut me off and be very judgmental. I would leave feeling hurt, ashamed and not at all relieved. If all doctors were like Dr. Kelli Arntzen, I would never have to feel that again! She is amazing!
Thank you so much!

This is very hard to write because Dr. Kendell Wilske is excellent. However, the front desk staff is so poor that we will not be returning. Twice now my husband and I have shown up for our appointments and been told by disinterested staff that we are not scheduled. Most recently, Westside called me to reschedule our annual appointments because Dr. Wilske’s schedule had changed. We agreed to the new date provided by Westside. When we showed up this afternoon, the guy at the front desk said that we were not on the schedule, that my husband’s cell number of the past 10 years no longer works and that I never returned their call to change our appointments. We cannot keep taking off work to accommodate disorganized office staff. Again, Dr. Wilske is a great physician, and we hate having to find another one.

Despite your response, I will not be returning.
The treatment of acne, as you mentioned, is undoubtedly complex and detailed.
However, your physician failed one of the most basic aspects of patient care: LISTENING to the patient. Too often, physicians will pick up on bits and pieces of what a patient is saying and rush to a diagnosis that is familiar to them, as opposed to listening to everything the patient is telling them and then forming a conclusion based on the whole picture. For example, Dr. Wilske was telling me to moisturize before prescribing any sort of acne medication, i.e. she was not telling me to moisturize to off-​set the drying effects of treatment (as you suggested). She was simply making a sweeping generalization without considering the things I was telling her (i.e. my history, I had been moisturizing with an oil free moisturizer, and it made the situation worse. This was true for all 3 oil-​free moisturizers I had used).
In short, she was dismissive and rushed. As a practice, I suggest you concern yourself more with the quality of patient care rather than the quantity of patients you see.

I booked an appointment here after reading the Unilocal reviews below and I would not recommend West Side dermatology. I felt completely disrespected.
My appointment was scheduled to start at 4:00pm which required that I leave work early to drive over to West Seattle. When I scheduled on the phone I asked them to email me a copy of the forms to fill out so I could save time before the appointment (and reduce unnecessary paperwork). They never emailed me, so I called to confirm my appointment and arrived at 3:45. No biggie, I figured.
By 4:45 I was about to walk out because I figured they forgot I was sitting in the room, when the physician entered looking a little frazzled and apologized.
From there the conversation was frantic and confusing. «The skin on your face looks oily…» «…where did you grow up?» «Here’s what you need to do with your acne» «why that profession?»
She ran out and ran back in with a magnifier of sorts. Drawers were opened and a plastic baggy stuffed with Cetaphil® products was plopped onto the bench. She looked at the pores of my skin through her magnifier and told me to wash with Avar® cleansing pads.
I never really understood the instructions for the various little bottles, but 15min later there was a knock on the door, she made vague references to a future appointment, and left abruptly. I sat confused on the bench for minute before grabbing the plasty baggie and walking out.
My honest advice to the staff at Westside: please respect your patients’ and your physicians’ time. Let patients know over the phone how long to expect for each appointment, and if your schedule is full, don’t book. It was obvious the physician was overworked and there were too many patients booked.
This was pretty much a waste of everyone’s time and yet Westside charged me and my insurance company for little tangible result.

Going to the doctor is generally one of my least favorite things to do, but there are times when one has to go, due to one issue after another. When I tried to book into the clinic, there was an extremely long wait for my regular dermatologist, Dr. Collier, and so I was referred to Dr. Bowers, who I had not seen before. What a delight the entire experience was! Both Dr. Bowers and her assistant, Gulden, were genuine, friendly, polite, professional and extremely thorough. I am not quite sure how I got lucky enough to meet Gulden, who is like an angel descended from the heavens, so blessed is she with the masterful skill of giving painless injections! In a follow up visit a week later, Dr. Bowers had to give me some biopsy news, and she did so empathetically and professionally. She followed through on all protocol, and I could not have felt better cared for. I highly recommend this intelligent, empathetic doctor.
Now, here’s the cherry on top of the entire business: I had to do a three month follow up and called the front desk, who said they would put me on stand-​by, as I could not make the appointment I had originally made. There was no call from the front desk, but dear Gulden, noticing that I had not made it in for my appointment, called to check up on me — I was blown away by the level of concern that emanates from this practice! Employees like Gulden need to be recognized and lauded for turning a good practice into a great practice.
I would recommend West Side Dermatology — all the dermatologists are really good, but it is the little rays of caring sunshine that creep into the practice through employees that really care, that make this a top recommendation.

I ultimately decided to do the follow-​up appointment as requested. Their customer service people called me and it was obvious they wanted to try to set things right.
I bumped up 1 star because:
— My doctor spent significantly more time with me (though it was obvious she knew who I was and a nurse knocked on the door 3 times while she was with me… meaning only other patients were being delayed their time which was sort of awkward)
— I got a chemical peal from Heather who was great
Did not go up more because:
— The prescriptions my doctor put me on really didn’t work. I ended up just doing my own research and figuring things out for myself and seem to have done better without all of the experimentation and over the top/​unnecessary things
— During the (somewhat awkwardly long) second appointment with my doctor, I found myself having to constantly repeat things… this didn’t necessarily annoy me… it was just a sign that she really does not listen well.
Overall. I might recommend this place more if you’re searching for cosmetic stuff. Heather is really great. At least the doctor that I had (won’t name her out of respect) was really not very good and I would never recommend her. I cannot speak for what other doctors might be like.

I have to say this is the first time I’ve ever found such a thorough dermatologist. Have seen many over the years but Dr. Kelli R. Arntzen is the best so far.
I asked many friends in WS who they’d recommend (remember businesses, word of mouth –positive or negative means a lot!), all said Westside Dermatology. Yes you may have to wait to get in, doctor may be running late but always my visits have been positive experiences.
I highly recommend.

Professionalism check. Punctuality check. Considerate… check! I drove here all the way from Everett, and it was well worth the drive. Dr Collyer saw me within 2 minutes. I had restylane for dark circles under my eyes. The procedure was painless. Afterwards, I was a bit lightheaded, so they gave me an apple and some crackers. All better! How many dermatologist offices do you know that will go out of there way like this?
I will be back.

My review is for laser hair removal with Heather Dahl, not for any of the doctors here.
I followed Heather here from Remington Plastic Surgery to this office when she started here. Again she is wonderful, professional and does an amazing job.
The prices at this office are still very competitive. The reception and waiting room is very big, modern, clean and welcoming.
You can read my review for Remington Plastic Surgery for more on how amazing Heather is.
(My ⁹⁄₃₀ for November)