Complaint Review: Dr. Alan J. Anthony

I would strongly not recommend Dr. Alan Anthony, Samantha Reith, or anyone else affiliated with this Kingsbury Grade office in Stateline, NV.  I have nothing but regret for going there, for their permanently damaging my face in different ways, which a medical expert confirmed, and which I took photos of to prove. The doctor/office would not provide me with their malpractice insurance information or licensing/credentialing information of their technicians (and a name for one of the technicians), so I was therefore prevented from pursuing a legal case and/or filing a complaint.  The Nevada Medical Board would not provide the office's insurance information for me (the consumer) or take any public corrective action with this group who broke "treatment" protocol in various ways, such as by not abiding by their own consent form (the patient-doctor contract) of taking facial photos before and after laser; by not fully informing and protecting the patient (such as with the right eyewear); and by improperly advising and performing a procedure in an excessive--at least triple the intensity level than what's medically recommended--and unprofessional/untrained way that did not even target the one acne spot problem I came in for.

 In fact, the one acne spot never got "treated" even though I asked if it could still be done after it was missed the first time around.  But again, the spot was not targeted directly the second time around either, as photos of the bruising locations also confirmed.)  I am so sorry I went to this office for help/advice because it quickly turned in to a massive, unnecessary lasering of such places as my lips, left nasolabial fold area, and across my chin area (which now has an indentation going across it), where no lasering should have happened.  This so-called treatment created such changes as wrinkles, fat loss in the cheeks, and saggy skin in the jowl area. The fact that my lip area changed shape too (thinner top lip--more so on right side and including the cupid's bow area--w/ swelling below central bottom lip) and that my lips don't close evenly or in the same places anymore and that I still have different sensations in them are laser consequences that I will always be reminded of.  The office offered me a $50 refund and Dr. Anthony referred me to another cosmetic doctor for a facelift as a remedy.

Dr. Anthony responds on Healthgrades.com: Patient satisfaction is very important to myself as well as the office. The patient was offered a full refund of the 50 she paid for treatment. We are sorry that the patient was not delighted by her experience. A malpractice case can occur for any valid reason. A doctor cannot avoid a lawsuit by not providing insurance information. Nevada does not license laser technicians. The office follows standard laser treatment protocols according to manufacturer's guidelines.

My response: I wish I had more room to respond to Dr. Anthony's healthgrades response.  If patient satisfaction is so important to him, why did he remove himself both during and after bad laser treatment?  I had to insist on seeing him after laser job and not a tech that staff said I had to see.  And yes, I already stated that his office offered me a $50 refund, but that's hardly adequate for damages done.  He implied I could have filed a malpractice claim, yet he withheld his malpractice insurance policy information and number and the NV Board would also not provide it (as reflective of the Board’s longstanding poor consumer rating), so where would I or lawyer have filed it?  If there were no treatment problems, nothing to be concerned about, what did he have to hide? And why keep me from looking at my record? 

Another issue here is fraud as he now says the laser techs aren’t licensed.  His office claimed, however, and wrote me tech (Samantha Reith) was “Board Certified Aesthetician” who did “medical aesthetics.” The very misleading inaccuracy of that title in which no available license number exists is a problem.  And yes, techs are licensed with the NV Cosmetology Board, but these aestheticians, by law, are prohibited from lasering.  He also claims that his tech followed protocol, yet he wasn’t present so how does he know?  Her lasering was excessive and supposedly at least triple the laser company’s recommended intensity level and not even directed at the target area, as she herself even documented (although probably even at a higher intensity number based on what another tech said).

Please, Dr. Anthony, be accountable for a service probably billed at a medical doctor’s rate while performed by an unqualified, negligent person with seemingly bad intentions.  It’s bad enough the consequence of physical and psychological damage to a patient, but then to dismiss those realities?  Where are your ethics?  I hope someday you show genuine concern for all your patients and the field of dermatology in which you have the chance to do some real good and effect positive change, especially in the area of laser research and in the state of Nevada where you’re given license to harm.

[Related complaints on the American Academy of Dermatology and the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners are currently filed on this website due to apparent widespread collusion in protecting doctors over consumers.  Other organizations/names also of no or minimal help in this case were the Better Business Bureaus (Reno, Nevada; Chicago, IL; Washington, D.C); the Federation of State Medical Boards; dermatologist Dr. Eric Smith in Placerville, CA; JAMA-Dermatology; American Medical Experts, LLC.; Nevada senators, and NV assemblywomen and assemblymen.

Many unsuspecting patients are being harmed.  The evidence is out there.  It's time for dermatologists, the gatekeepers and rule makers in the medical field and legal arena, to seriously address issues of laser safety and operation and to make that information public.]