Schweiger Dermatology Group - SF-Presidio

Madeline Toll 5 months ago

I rarely write reviews, especially on such personal matters, but I must warn anyone who is considering California Skin Institute/Schweiger Dermatology's services to stay as far away as possible from this institution. I had a very small cyst in the middle of my forehead, and since it was so visible, I did thorough research to determine the best place to try and get rid of it. When I first visited CA skin institute, they assured me that they would be able to shrink the cyst with a simple steroid injection. After the first treatment, I noticed a subtle difference for a few days, and then it returned to its original size. I went back to the office and they recommended that I do another steroid injection. I trusted their judgment, so proceeded with the second injection. The cyst began to grow even larger after this. On my third and final visit, they continued to recommend injections, while now saying that if I had to get it surgically removed it would require 6-8 stitches. This whole ordeal lasted about three months. At this point, I contacted another institution to recieve a second opinion. After consulting with them, they told me that had I come in just a few weeks sooner, I likely would have been able to avoid surgery completely. Because of the terrible advice of CA skin institute to continue to recieve steroid injections over the course of several months, (and to continue paying over and over again for their services in the process) I now have a permanent scar on my forehead from waiting too long to have the cyst removed. I relied on their "expert" advice, and I have regretted it ever since. When I did end up having the surgery, my surgeon was able to do it with only 2 stitches, rather than the 6-8 that CA Skin Institute had said it would require. I am so grateful that I was able to find a new provider, and regret ever stepping foot in CA Skin Institute's doors. This review doesn't even begin to touch on the endlessly frustrating experience I had trying to deal with their customer service and billing departments over the course of 8 months. To summarize, after I was repeately called multiple times a week regarding a bill, I finally took the time out of my day to try and sort it out. I was told that I hadn't made a payment, and most concerningly, that they did not keep any records of payments on the their end. On the call, I was asked to send pictures of my credit card statement proving that I had paid, which felt extremely unprofessional and inappropriate. After I provided this, they suddenly were able to find the missing receipts and records on their end showing that I had indeed paid the bill in question. Still, when I asked for my own patient records, I was told that they had not integrated with the Scweigher Dermatology system. After my appointment in May 2025, I recieved a bill for the first time in October 2025. Their justification for this extreme delay was that since they had been acquired by Scweigher Dermatology, there had been some kind of lag in the records. When I tried to pay both over the phone and through their patient portal, both were not able to accept any form of payment. I had to take time out of my day to drive back to their office to pay in person. Still, none of the hours on the phone, emails sent, having to go back in my bank records to find payments because of their lack of records, or time out of my day to drive to their office compares to having a permanent scar in the middle of my forehead. Please, do yourself a favor and consult with an actual medical expert.

Razi Javaherian 4 months ago

Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else. Appointments are rushed — you barely get five minutes with the doctor before they're out the door. But the real nightmare is their billing and admin staff. I had to wait three months to get my medication because they kept submitting the wrong codes to insurance. Insurance would deny it, send it back, and they'd just sit on it for weeks doing nothing. I had to call repeatedly just to get anyone to take action. Every single time I followed up, it was like starting from scratch. To top it off, they tried to charge me for an appointment I canceled. If they put half the effort into their billing that they put into rushing you out of the exam room, this place might be functional. Stay away.

Kelly S a month ago

Staff, process, action. Impressed by how organized they are.. I took care of a couple issues during my first consultation instead of having to come back multiple times which I'll need to do anyways but happy to get the ball rolling on the spot. Hand off from assistant to Dr back to assistant was great! And I liked that the Dr. presented a few options for my specific needs.

Kendra Wilson 7 months ago

I've seen two doctors here. One for cosmetic Botox and one for a cancer screen, bump check and scalp issues. My first appointment was for Botox was with Nikki M. She had good bedside manner and I really liked her when I was in the office. Unfortunately when I highlighted my problem areas for Botox, she seemed to ignore them and injected other spots (I've had Botox before and know where the normal injection sites are, which she was way off). I left annoyed that I spent the money and didn't see much difference at all. The second appointment was with Dr Chansky for a cancer screening, bump check and scalp issue. I swear he took maybe 3 minutes on my cancer screen, which made me feel like he definitely could have missed a cancerous area. For the bump, he didn't ask me any questions about it and instead looked at it for 5 seconds, told me I could get surgery but it would leave a scar and was unnecessary. He proceeded to check my scalp and write a script, but when I asked a clarifying question he basically shrugged me off. The whole thing took maybe 10 mins... I felt like cattle being shepherded through a ring and not at all considered an individual or a human with a background or unique needs.

Henry Algert a month ago

I was a longtime patient, but California Skin Institute has changed for the worse following their sale to Schweiger. The quality of care is not the same, waits are longer, and any billing/administrative questions are routed to an overseas call center. What finally did it for me was when I had two biopsies done as part of a regular skin check up; I received a copy of the lab results directly from the lab, but my Schweiger doctor never followed up with any interpretation of these results and what it meant for my health. I only got an assessment three months later after I had to proactively reach out to the office (in which they said one of the spots was worth a follow up!!). And of course they still charged full price right away, even when they had not actually completed the service of analyzing the biospy results.