Santa Barbara Skin Institute

On three different occasions, biopsies of my skin by my dermatologist revealed the need for Moh’s surgery. My dermatologist referred me to Dr. Roberta Sengelmann of the Santa Barbara Skin Institute each time. Prior to each surgery, the physician’s assistant informed me about what to expect and the details of each surgery. Dr. Roberta Sengelmann performed all of the Moh’s surgeries supported by her team. Dr. Sengelmann is a highly qualified, skilled surgeon who is also kind, gentle and communicative. We became good friends in the course of my treatments. Not only was Dr. Sengelmann’s treatment outstanding, her whole team worked seamlessly together to care for me. Each time I visited the Skin Institute, Dr. Sengelmann’s team warmly welcomed me, informed about what I needed to know, inspired confidence in the process and outcome, and educated me about post-surgical care and procedures. The team’s light-hearted encouragement and genuine delight in positive outcomes comforted and lifted my spirits. I highly recommend Dr. Roberta and her whole team.

Excellent overall service including office staff, physicians assistant and Doctor. I had no questions to ask after the procedures were finished. The doctor was excellent and did the surgery quickly and efficiently. The physicians assistant was outstanding. She was personable and gave me injections that were painless. I am a big guy but sensitive when it comes to shots. She is just a nice person.

Dr Sengelmann has performed several Moh’s surgeries on me due to ongoing skin cancer issues. Her work is impeccable! Even work done on my face is barely noticeable…she is a perfectionist. Her office is run very professionally and her staff are personable, polite and efficient. I highly recommend her and personally would go no where else.

I developed a new mole that concerned me. I recently moved to Santa Barbara, so had to find a dermatologist. I called the Santa Barbara Skin Institute and made an appointment for one week later - the first appointment they had available with one of their physicians. The website indicates that they have two doctors and I was disappointed to see that Dr. Ortiz, the physicain with whom I was scheduled, is not mentioned on their website. Normally I read a doctor's profie to note where they trained, how many years they have been in practice, and what board certifications they have, but decided to go ahead with it because of my concern. When I arrived I was told I had canceled my appointment via their automated system. I was on pins and needles waiting for the appointment and had no intention of canceling but, of course, could not go back in time to see what had happened. All I can say is that if it is that easy to cancel without knowing you have done so, their system needs work. I do know the difference betweeen "cancel" and "confirm", so if it is not easy to cancel without knowing, there was a glitch in their system with my appointment. The receptionist had quite a cold affect, but did offer me an appointment later in the day with a PA. As I did not feel that that office would serve me well, and with other dermatologic concerns I need a practice I have confidence in, I left and made an appointment for the following day with a dermatologsit in another practice. I was disappointed with this office on several levels (no information about one of their doctors and the whole appointment debacle) and would not recommend it to family or friends.

Would not recommend this office to anyone. Both of my surgeries became infected, one with a bacteria only found in hospital settings and is very hard to get rid of without taking very strong antibiotics. Both left very ugly scars that I have to live with. And after multiple calls trying to make an appointment with Dr Sengelman about my experiences and many questions she told me it was my fault. So if you have something go wrong here they will just brush you off. Needless to say will not ever be coming back.