The only reason I'm giving the practice more than 1 star is because of the kindness and…read moreprofessionalism of the nurse practitioners I saw (at the Fairfax location) before the 3rd appointment (when I saw Dr. Seaman today in the Bethesda office location). Apologies in advance for the lengthy review, but I'm absolutely livid about my experience today, so I feel I should be thorough for anyone who is hoping to find a good doctor to treat what, to so many of us, is a very sensitive and serious issue.
About 6 months ago, I had some pretty dramatic hair loss (about 30% of my hair all over my head within a month). I am only 33 years old. I was desperate. I read some reviews (clearly not on Yelp) about Dr. Seaman that seemed promising. Also, her office could see me quickly whereas other offices had quite a wait to see the main doctor and didn't have NPs available for appointments, so I took the appointment.
I saw a NP at the FFX office near my home and she was caring, thorough, and recommended a number of things to help treat my hair loss - which took time to explain likely happened due to stress from an accident I was in a few months prior. I came back for a follow up appointment and met with another NP, because - lucky me - I developed large pigmentation on my forehead the next month which turned out to be melasma, and was instructed to check on the hair issue as well. I made a follow up before then also to see Dr. Seaman, but had to wait 5 weeks if I wanted to see her in Bethesda (35 minute drive), or 6 weeks if I wanted to see her in Fairfax (right next to my house). I opted for the 5 weeks - I was hopeful.
What a mistake! I took a half day from work to drive up to her office in MD and then once I was taken into the exam room, around 10:20 (I was about 10 minutes late - if you *do* go, please note the office looks like a residence, I drove right past it and had to loop around), I had to wait another 30 minutes. Yes. THIRTY. But, she's a doctor. It happens. Patients sometimes need extra care, run late (like I did), so I was patient, I didn't mind, because I was still hopeful that she'd be great at this point. She apologized for being late when she came in at 10:50 (our appointment was at 10:00). I told her "no problem!".
She then sat down, looked at my file, and said that it looked like I was dealing with stress hair loss! There were many other things written in my file that she'd clearly ignored. She was winging my appointment. She also told me to "keep taking the Viviscal and other supplements we had prescribed" and I kept telling her they hadn't prescribed; I was already taking those on my own. I was deflated as she kept cutting me off when I was asking her questions about whether or not certain other things may have been affecting the hair loss, and she completely ignored me when I said that I wanted to be tested to find out if it was female pattern hair loss or, indeed, due to stress, since her staff had given me conflicting professional opinions. She just kept on with the appointment and pretended like I never asked.
I also asked her if she'd heard of a new supplement I'd added called nutrifol which was recommended by my hair stylist. She hadn't. She asked me what the active ingredients were in it. I said I didn't know, but could look it up, so I pulled out my phone so I could show her; and at this point, she seemed rushed, and annoyed, and actually was visibly sweating. I don't know how backed up she was on her patient list, but she was getting downright snippy with me and had that fake smile plastered on her face the entire time as she rushed me through the rest of the 12-15 minutes she spent with me.
When we finally got to talk about the melasma spot on my face, she basically told me that I have a couple options, I'm going to have to live with it, and unfortunately it's the hardest skin condition to treat effectively in dermatology. "You're not alone, lots of people deal with this!" ...uh, great? They're not paying you a $45 copay for you to toss a paper about what microdermabrasion is at them and then tell them to do that with some chem peels in the winter and then boot them out of your office so you can get on with your day. Even if it can't be permanently removed, fine. I can take that. But Dr. Seaman's bedside manor when telling someone "hey, so you're stuck with this horrible blotch in the middle of your face forever," could use some serious work.
Basically, I'd rather have taken my half day, gone to my esthetician (who has already told me everything she said and *more*) and spent that $45 on a facial instead of paying to get treated like complete crap when I was looking for guidance and a doctor who, at the very least, takes a little time and care to get to know her patients. What a horrific experience. The search for a women's hair loss derm continues.