Not medical advice
Nothing on this website is medical advice for you in particular, and it is not a diagnosis. These pages describe conditions in general terms so that you arrive knowing what the questions are — they cannot tell you which condition you have, because that requires somebody to look at your skin, feel it, ask you a hundred questions and frequently take a sample of it. Two conditions on this website can look identical in a photograph and need opposite treatments. If something on your skin is new, changing, painful or not healing, the useful next step is an appointment rather than more reading.
No diagnosis without an examination
We do not diagnose skin from photographs, and we do not answer "what is this?" by email, by message or through a form. This is not caution for its own sake. A photograph has no history attached to it, cannot be felt, cannot be stretched or pressed to see whether the colour blanches, cannot be examined under a dermatoscope, and misreports colour badly — which matters enormously on skin that is not pale. The examination that actually distinguishes a harmless growth from an early cancer involves magnification, cross-polarised light and, when there is any doubt at all, a biopsy. An application that offers to tell you whether a mole is dangerous from a picture taken on a telephone is selling reassurance, and reassurance is the one product in this field that is dangerous when it is wrong. Bring the mark to a room where somebody can look at it. The full reasoning is on /no-diagnosis-online.html, and what this practice does not do at all is listed on /scope-of-care.html.
No guaranteed results
There are no before-and-after photographs on this website and there never will be. Every set you have seen somewhere else was chosen from a much larger pile, and the second picture is usually taken in different light, at a different angle, at a different point in a flare cycle. In dermatology the dishonesty is sharper than in most fields, because nearly every condition here fluctuates on its own — photograph any relapsing skin disease at its worst and again at its best and you have a persuasive pair of images that demonstrates nothing about the treatment in between. What we publish instead is what a treatment typically achieves, in how long, in what proportion of people, and how often it does not work. The full discussion is on /results-and-expectations.html.
Risks
Every treatment described here has side effects, and some carry real risks. Topical steroids thin skin if they are used at the wrong strength on the wrong site for too long, which is why they are prescribed with a site, a strength and a stopping point rather than handed over indefinitely. Light-based and laser treatment can burn, blister and cause pigment change that lasts months, and that risk is higher on deeper skin tones and on recently tanned skin. Any procedure that breaks the skin can bleed, become infected and leave a scar; on the chest, the shoulders and the jawline, scars are more likely to thicken. Several of the medicines used in this speciality require blood tests, and some cannot be taken during pregnancy. We tell you your own risk rather than the average one, and where the honest answer is that a condition is better left alone, that is the advice you will get. The full discussion is on /safety-and-risks.html, and what this practice will not do is listed on /scope-of-care.html.
Emergencies
Nothing on this website is a route to urgent care, and this form and this calendar are not monitored outside working hours. Go to an emergency room, or call emergency services, for a rash that is spreading quickly with fever, blistering or peeling skin; a rash that does not fade when a glass is pressed against it; swelling of the face, lips or tongue, or any difficulty breathing; or any widespread rash in a baby under three months.
Telephone the practice, rather than booking a routine appointment, if you have a mole or a mark that has changed, a sore that has not healed within three weeks, spreading redness that is hot and tender, a painful band of rash on one side of the body near an eye, or anything that is worse rather than better after a procedure performed here.
No product or manufacturer is named
Dermatology is regulated in New York State, every physician here is licensed, and the practice is inspected like any other medical office. What we will not do is decorate this website with the seal of a board, a college or an academy as though somebody outside this building has personally vouched for the care you are about to receive. Nobody outside this practice has reviewed it. So instead of a wall of logos, these pages tell you plainly who will examine you, what they will do, what they will not do, what it costs, what can go wrong and how often. Ask us about any of it before you book.
Appointments booked through this site
A request, then a confirmation
Choosing an hour holds it immediately and sends you an email. Confirming it takes one click and simply tells the practice to expect you. Not confirming does not cancel anything — the appointment stays where it is and shows as unconfirmed.
Cancelling
You may cancel your own appointment from the link in any of our emails at any point up until the appointment start time. Past appointments cannot be cancelled online. There is no cancellation charge, though a deposit on a booking over $500 is retained inside 48 hours.
Accuracy
The calendar reflects each clinician's schedule at the moment the page loaded. In the rare case that two people select the same hour within seconds of each other, the second booking is refused and the day's remaining hours are reloaded.
Prices
The prices shown are the self-pay prices charged. Most medical dermatology is covered by insurance and most cosmetic dermatology is not; see /insurance-and-fees.html. Nobody is ever charged for the appointment that reviews the result of a procedure we caused.
Consultation first
Nothing is diagnosed or prescribed without an examination, and no diagnosis is given from a never performed on the day of a first consultation. Some people are declined; see /no-diagnosis-online.html.
Content
The text, layout, code, brand mark and generated imagery on this website belong to Woodside Skin Care, LLC and its developers. The photographs and the hero video are generated imagery of a fictional practice and depict no real person, premises or event. No image on this site is a before-and-after photograph or a photograph of a patient. You may read, print and link to these pages freely; please do not republish them as your own.
External links and accuracy
We try to keep everything here accurate and current, and clinical understanding changes. Nothing on this site is a substitute for an examination by a qualified clinician who can actually look at you.
We claim nobody else's approval, and we name nobody's product. Dermatology is regulated in New York State, every physician here is licensed, and the practice is inspected like any other medical office. What we will not do is decorate this website with the seal of a board, a college or an academy as though somebody outside this building has personally vouched for the care you are about to receive. Nobody outside this practice has reviewed it. So instead of a wall of logos, these pages tell you plainly who will examine you, what they will do, what they will not do, what it costs, what can go wrong and how often. Ask us about any of it before you book.
Nothing is diagnosed from a photograph. We do not diagnose skin from photographs, and we do not answer "what is this?" by email, by message or through a form. This is not caution for its own sake. A photograph has no history attached to it, cannot be felt, cannot be stretched or pressed to see whether the colour blanches, cannot be examined under a dermatoscope, and misreports colour badly — which matters enormously on skin that is not pale. The examination that actually distinguishes a harmless growth from an early cancer involves magnification, cross-polarised light and, when there is any doubt at all, a biopsy. An application that offers to tell you whether a mole is dangerous from a picture taken on a telephone is selling reassurance, and reassurance is the one product in this field that is dangerous when it is wrong. Bring the mark to a room where somebody can look at it.