Dr. Sandra Irene Read, MD

Dr. Read is experienced, extremely knowledgeable and up-to-date about the latest in dermatologic care and technology. Don't be surprised if she doesn't spend a lot of time with you as a patient. She has a ridiculously busy office and spends the appropriate amount of time with you so that she can also be fair to her other patients. Bottom line is--regardless of the time spent, you can be confident you are getting excellent care.

I was dissatisfied with the services of Dr. Read and her staff. After delivering a diagnosis that upset me, Dr. Read offered little explanation about my skin condition. She did not give or discuss tests related to my condition. To get a discussion going, I had to ask Dr. Read one question after another. Her responses to my questions were terse. Dr. Read seemed disinterested in me as a patient. After asking Dr. Read's staff for reading material about my skin condition, one staffer expressed ignorance of my (not uncommon) skin condition. When I asked to be given doctor-approved office reading material about my skin condition, the staffer said the office had none. The staffer suggested that I do some research on the internet. My overall rating of my experience: Poor.

She misdiagnosed me. She prescribed palliatives that were inefective. She only prescibed expensive medications, when generics would have done. She spent 30 minutes talking to the drug rep outside my exam room, while I sat there waiting. Her manner was outright rude and dismissive. I come from a family of doctors and her attitude and treatment was shameful. I go to GWU now and it's far far better.

I have the utmost respect for Dr. Read and have been seeing her for about 10 years on a regular basis. She was the first of several doctors to identify what everyone else was saying was a spider bite as a Lyme-infected tick bite. She's the best. She can be abrupt as she's very business-like in her sessions. But she is a warm individual.