Complaint Review: Serenity Rejuvenation Stephen O'Connell OConnell

I went to Dr O'Connell @ Serenity Rejuvenation in January for laser CO2 TO minimize wrinkles.  My skin was slightly more smooth, but my wrinkles were just the same, to be honest.  Over the subsequent months, any slight improvement I had in texture disappeared.  Dr. O'Connel said it would take 9 months to see improvement.  That doesn't make any sense when my skin texture, wrinkles, etc. were just going in the opposite direction.  If anything, you'd expect it to improve slightly each month until the max at 9 months.  $2K was a lot pay for 2 weeks of minor exfoliation.  

Dr. O'Connel (at this point I don't feel it's appropriate to call him a doctor any more - you'll see why) "graciously" agreed to redo the procedure. But, is it really so gracious when he didn't do it right the first time??  Now I have to go through all the pain and downtime and stress again!  

My appointment was at 1:45pm.  The receptionist called me and told me to come in 45 minutes early so they could apply numbing cream.  I called them back early on in the day and said I could apply it at home and come in at 1:45pm instead of 1pm, so I wouldn't have to sit around there for 45 minutes. I arrived at 1:45pm and I told the staff again that I applied the numbing cream already.  I sat there in the waiting room for an entire hour (the numbing cream had been on my face for 1.5 hours when the Mr. O'Connell & Bella finally showed up.  Having seen 3 patients come in, wait, and go in the back room, I was getting pretty irritated at this point.  I must have asked 3 or 4 times - when am I going to actually get my appointment.  I was given a vague answer each time - soon.  I repeateadly told the staff and Mr. O'Connell that it had been 1.5 hours since it was applied.  

We were trying to reschedule when Mr. O'Connell sauntered in with Bella.  I asked why was I waiting for an hour. I did not yell, I did not wave my arms wildly, I spoke in a direct and confident voice.  Mr. O'Connell told me he wanted the numbing cream to be on for at least 45 minutes.  I told him it had been on for 1.5 hours.  Then he started to accuse me of creating a problem by raising my voice and he said this in a very loud, annoyed, accusational, and rude voice, the very thing he accused me of that wasn't true.   Then he threatened not to do the procedure, saying he was doing me a favor by redoing it.  Well, sort of.  He didn't do it right the first time, so it's really NOT a favor then. I wanted to get it over with and therefore didn't respond to his continued rude accusations.  I, the patient, had to calm everyone down, and move them in the direction of getting it over with.  Mr. O'Connell continued to go off on me in the procedure room.  I tried to calm him down by saying "it was a miscommunication, so let's put it in the past and move on".  Bella also joined me in trying to get this guy to shut up.  But, he wouldn't.  How unprofessional!  He kept complaining.  After the 3rd time of saying "it was a miscommunication, nobody's fault, let's just put it in the past."  Finally, he repeated what I had just said 3-4 times.  I kept thinking, I'm the customer, this is a service business.  If you can't handle giving service, you shouldn't be in this type of business.

By the time we finally got started, I imagine the over the counter pain killers and numbing might have been wearing off because it hurt like hell.  It was so bad that I really just wanted to stop.  At this point, I was cursing Bella for talking me out of the prescription pain killers.  But, I sucked it up.  Bella encouraged me to go on.  They gave me a script afterwards - it's really too late for that - didn't need it afterwards.  

My guess is that Mr. O'Connell is very new at this because he didn't seem to have any process for how and when patients are supposed to come in for their procedures.  And the staff was mostly ignorant on the process too - saying it was up to the doctor.  

No, I would not recommend Dr. O'Connell or Serenity Rejuvenation.  I didn't even get a discount for his having little experience.  I paid what the average price is for CO2 laser. The bedside manner of this doctor is just horrific.