Dr. Karen H Kim, MD

I had a very troubling experience seeing Dr. Kim for the excision of an abnormal mole - her surgical technique left me with a significant defect due to the excision not being long enough; this defect was in addition to the scar, which I of course expected to have following the surgery. During a follow-up appointment, Dr. Kim was dismissive of my questions, condescending, and incredibly quick to leave the room with no acknowledgment of the complication. I required a follow-up excision surgery with a plastic surgeon, who confirmed that the correct formula for excision length was not employed during my procedure with Dr. Kim. In addition, I was not given proper pre-surgical instructions (e.g. stop taking blood thinners), or advised on the best surgical option for my case (e.g. Mohs vs. "slow Mohs"). I would strongly advise any patient to reconsider a surgical procedure of this nature with Dr. Kim - while the same errors might not occur, I would be remiss to not share my experience.

Great visit. Very friendly and personable. Made me feel extremely comfortable and eased any nerves of the procedure. Very thorough and explained everything to me.

Wonderful smart person who spent time with me and has been big help.

Dr. Kim made an accurate diagnosis, prescribed an effective medication, and resolved an issue that had not been handled correctly by a previous doctor. She is very empathetic and kind, as well as excellent at her profession.

Dr. Kim was friendly, sweet, and smiles a lot. She took the time to listen to all my concerns. I like that she wasn't too conservative in her treatment suggestions (some doctors really hold back and push you to get as little done as possible - which I understand from a medical point of view, especially when the therapies are primarily cosmetic/elective -- but sometimes that just gets annoying...) Dr. Kim "gets it" in the sense that she knows that you came here to beautify yourself and she'll gladly help you attain your cosmetic goals. HOWEVER, the prices in this office are RIDICULOUSLY over-the-top. They can charge much more because they're located in Chestnut Hill and no doubt cater to the wealthy residents of that neighborhood. Also, some of the other doctors in the office have been on Oprah so I'm sure that all the publicity also enables them to charge higher prices. I was paying $800/session for what would have been a 6-8 session laser skin treatment. But because I'm not a wealthy… Chestnut Hill lady, I started to check out alternative options and now am blissfully getting the same treatment for $250/session with a different dermatologist in Boston who is just as skilled and knowledgable (if not more). So if price isn't an issue and you live in the area, then this is office would be fine but I highly recommend that you check out alternative practices elsewhere.

Dr. Kim was very friendly and had good bedside manner but her friendliness seemed unnecessarily exaggerated. She was constantly nodding and had a such a permanent smile affixed on her face that it sort of felt fake. She also seemed somewhat scatterbrained and forgot to do a lot of the things she had said she would do. For example, she said she would write down the scientific names of my moles and the settings at which she had programmed the laser for my own records (I like to keep track of all the specifics) but after my treatment, she just left the room and didn't come back. After I had gotten dressed, the nurse/assistant came to escort me to the check-out desk but told me that Dr. Kim was already in session with another patient and would get back to me regarding my requests but she never did.