Dotz Warren Dr's Online Review Report Card

Dr. Dotz is a great doctor and a delightful character. Go get your skin checked!

Arrogant, cold, dismissive. Barely answered my questions. Misled me about the procedure he was going to perform -- he told me it would be a "scraping," but actually performed a saucerization, removing a 1-cm circle through two layers of skin. See photo, no one would expect this when they're told to get a scraping. Definitions: https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/skin-biopsy I can't trust someone who can't or won't explain what they're doing and doesn't respect their patients.

I agree with most of the positive and negative reviews about Dr. Dotz. I saw him several times and he is an excellent doctor, always providing great advice and the right prescription when needed. When I needed a prescription, he gave me two, explaining that one might be very expensive and not covered by my insurance but the other one would likely be. If not, the second one would be less expensive. Turned out he was right. However, it was very uncomfortable, at every visit, listening to him yelling at his patients in other exam rooms. I could understand most of what he was saying. Most reviewers mentioned his speaking loudly but he was actually yelling angrily, often about the patients shortcomings. Then when he came into my room, he spent half my exam complaining about that other patient and others. I will not be going to see him again. I'm sure that there are other excellent podiatrists that aren't so confrontational.

Mark W of Albany wrote in Sept. 2012, "I found Dr. Dotz to be a condescending, rude, conceited megalomaniac who seems to have some kind of personality disorder." That describes my experience exactly. So excessive and over-the-top was his behavior that if I had been able to record it, I think it would be grounds for sanction by medical associations. Consider yourself warned.

I first visited Dr. Dotz's practice in July 2013. Having grown up a sun worshipper, I thought a year-round tan was a sign of robust health. But later, after retirement, my focus shifted to sun damage and skin cancer. Our relationship began with semi-annual total body scans from Dr. Dotz, during which time he managed my case to prevent actinic keratoses from turning cancerous. In August 2016 he noted a change since my last visit in one such area on my cheek. He carefully removed the offensive tissue and sent it to the lab, where it was classified as a squamous cell carcinoma. Not only had his technique removed the entire malady, his skill with a scalpel left not the slightest trace of a scar on my face. When a troublesome boil erupted on my back while isolated in the midst of the pre-vaccination pandemic, a weekly exchange of emails, photos, and telemedicine calls--coupled with an antibiotic protocol--brought about resolution without complications in less than a month. Over the years he has diagnosed and treated other conditions, including a myxoid cyst. Dr. Dotz explains the medical significance of his diagnoses thoroughly and understandably. But he does not prattle or make small talk during office visits. And his attention is focused on the principal medical issue at hand, rather than straying to a patient's laundry-list of maladies. Accordingly his office quickly schedules follow-up visits for additional skin issues. In short he is an excellent diagnostician and disciplined professional using the latest medications and procedures. I feel confident and fortunate to be under his care.

I've been seeing Dr. Dotz for well over 20 years and have repeatedly been kept alive by his thorough and clever system for very proactively finding threatening lesions/moles early. He has structured his service for high overall efficiency and therefore low cost coupled with unusually thorough and insightful dermatological care. It's true that one aspect of this system is that he prefers to only deal with one issue per visit, which is less than optimal for patient convenience, but it's a small problem in the context of needing great dermatological surveillance, and we're lucky to have his determined perfectionism in keeping his patients healthy. His preference for using sets of a few dozen photographs as references for mole check exams is a major aspect of his system of monitoring for dangerous ones, which most dermatologists apparently don't care enough to implement. It's a modest amount of work to yield superior defense which helps greatly to detect very small changes, where change is clue #1 for finding cancers. Do yourself a favor and prefer his care. And while you're at it, realize that a changed mole that's only 3mm across and acting up can kill you if you ignore it! It's worth getting an expert check before it's too late. Melanomas vary a great deal in their appearance and are shockingly dangerous when undiscovered!

I never write any reviews on business. But, on this Christmas Day, I'd like to break my rule to express my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Dotz, whose esoteric excellence as a dermatologist and his exceptional perception as a person completely changed my 16-year-old daughter's life. My daughter had suffered some common yet stubborn skin issues since she was very young. She visited her insurance dermatologist quite a few times, but only to be informed untreatable. As a makeshift solution, she covered her problematic skin with clothes all year round. Sadly and desperately, it became a taboo at home to talk about her skin. All this has been changed by visiting Dr. Dotz. He carefully diagnosed the symptoms, explained the history and future of treatments, and let my daughter try his new samples in order to create the formula to minimize the side effects. The most unexpectedly touching part was Dr. Dotz spending his valuable time looking for the sustainable prices for us. We saw his humanity besides a superior doctor. Now my daughter, like her peers, put on any clothes with a smile. In particular, as a violin player, she is not shy anymore to expose her skin on the stage. What a life that has been transformed. Dr. Dotz! Thank you for squeezing my daughter into your overloaded schedule. Words are beyond our reach. Thank you and we appreciate you!!!

I absolutely love Dr. Dotz! He not only has saved my father's life many times over, but he's saved mine as well. He is one of the smartest, most insightful, expert dermatologists around and if you are lucky enough to get an appointment with him, take it if you value your life and your skin!

Dr. Dotz is exactly what I need from a dermatologist. He is detailed, a perfectionist, proud of his work, and extremely competent. I have seem him for many years, and during that time have had numerous things removed from my skin (thank you Santa Monica beach as a kid!). In all the years he has never left a scar or blemish (beyond normal healing), which is really important given the amount of work he's done on my face. Having moved to Southern California during the pandemic, I still fly North for treatments. In fact, he found a potentially threatening mole that a doctor in Palm Springs overlooked entirely, and followed through on the treatment to be sure it didn't become dangerous. Dr. Dotz exemplifies the kind of accountability I want in a doctor. I recommend him highly!

If you need an outstanding, professional and caring dermatologist with a similarly professional and caring staff, you need Dr. Dotz. His goal is to provide the best medical care possible for his clients. He diagnosed two early melanomas with me in the past six months that could have progressed to life threatening status if left unattended, arranged for a top notch surgeon to handle removal, and has been diligent in follow up care. Parking is easy at his well located office and he does not waste your time with long waits in an overbooked waiting room. Very pleased with his kind and competent care!