Lillian Soohoo, MD

Dr. Soohoo is probably the most unprofessional doctor I’ve ever been to, when you have acne it is already uncomfortable, what could be worse than an arrogant doctor and her staff that by the time the appointment was over I left feeling worse. But I have to say I’m SO grateful she was such a jerk because I found Dr. Bitter and Dr. Noodleman, both very compassionate and professional. I would never recommend Dr. Soohoo

We saw her today for my baby’s skin problem. She was not listening to what I had to say, nor was she checking the lab results my referring doctor sent in. I feel that this visit was a waste of time. She was not taking me serious and made me feel like a stupid person! If you have a choice, go to a different pediatric dermatologist.

We cannot give a more positive review for Dr. Soohoo. For starters, she belongs to the AOA Society (anyone in medicine understands the significance of this) so she is extremely intelligent. She was treating our 9 year old daughter for a cosmetic skin condition. Dr. Soohoo, who is also a mother, did not dismiss our concerns as trite but understood the social dynamic that prompted us to visit her. She was very responsive to our needs as a family, and most importantly our daughter was very comfortable with her. We are extremely pleased with the care we received.

I’m so happy I found dr soohoo! So happy because my husband came with me on the second visit and I asked her if she can just take a quick look at his skin and she said «ok take off your shirt»!! Lol. My husband took off his shirt and immediately she said «what is that!?» And then looked at all his skin and found two abnormal moles that I would have never noticed. She wanted to immediately remove one to have it biopsied and did the removal right there and sent to stanford. We are here for the second removal. She is all over it and proactive! This is what makes a good doctor. no drama, to the point, great bedside, and authentically cares. come here if you want the real deal with your skin health.

Dr Lillian Soohoo is a knowledgable and a caring doctor. I had to bring my 8 year old to a dermatologist as soon as possible, and Dr Soohoo took my child in as soon as possible. She was referred as a pediatric dermatologist to us by two other dermatologists. We are very happy with our experience with her. Thank you.

We went to see Dr. Soohoo for my son’s wart. He had a huge colony between two toes. She used a treatment that was fairly expensive and wasn’t covered under our insurance, but I’m not sure how we would have cleared up the warts without this. She was able to make his immune system fight off the wart. It has not come back. She was friendly and helpful. She makes time for her patients, will answer all questions, is not in a hurry to move on to her next appointment. Very impressed! Would highly recommend.

She’s smart and knowledgeable, and at first engaging — -at first. As the conversation continued, however I felt that was unprofessional in her remarks and opinions.. When I asked her if acne is hereditary, she flew off the handle and said kids today experience much different pressures than when I was younger and she immediately compared me to another patient who had enquired about the same thing and said it was wrong to make such «assumptions.» It was a question, not an assumption. She was rude.
I was also uncomfortable with her cavalier attitude towards prescribing Accutane. Given all the controversy surrounding it, there are obviously some problems still associated with this product and Dr. Soohoo should be more careful in immediately presenting this option. Go to Dr. Anjali Morales with Califonnia Skin Institute. She is much nicer, and more professional.

We had a great experience with her. We brought my 6 year old son in to see her because his scalp was flaky and somewhat red. She explained everything very thoroughly and took the time to make sure we understood what was going on. She determined what it was right away, which was cradle’s cap and gave us a prescription. After applying the solution for about a week the skin on his scalp became normal again. I highly recommend her!

So Dr. Soohoo is a fast talker, it’s part of her personality, and this is not a flaw. A lot of people might think this is «rushing the patient», but she took all the time I needed to feel comfortable with what she was prescribing, and believe me, I asked some questions a couple /​three times as I wanted to be positive of what I was suppose to do.
There was a Dr. in Monte Sereno that basically misdiagnosed my 4 year olds eye problem, prescribing antibiotics by default. This didn’t help, and made my child’s problem worse. Not only did the eye problem worsen, the antibiotics she prescribed changed my child’s mood to the negative… edgy/​testy. Searching out Dr.‘s I found Dr. Soohoo. She correctly diagnosed by child’s eye problem, and within a week, my child was 90+% better. Since then, my wife has gone to Dr. Soohoo, and last week I went to Dr. Soohoo due to adult onset rosacea. She knew exactly what my problem was, she took the time to get to know my lifestyle and prescribed the appropriate protocol/​medicines. Knowing that at first you have to «knock down» rosacea, there are a couple of ways to do this… the long way and the short way. The short way includes pills and creams… and they are expensive.
I have read a review saying that Dr. Soohoo has a «professional obligation» to know the price of all the medicines… that’s absolutely ridiculous. A Dr’s professional obligation is to «serve a patient’s medical needs». If the medicine turns out to be too expensive for you, maybe you should call the Dr. for an alternative OR, take the time YOURSELF and look online for coupons/​discount cards, or call the manufacturer of the medicine and see what they can do for you. I am sure people shop around for the best price for day to day items, so why don’t people do the same for medicines. I think it is nice that Dr.‘s offer patients any kind of discount card. Sorry for the ranting… some people just bug me.
Anyway… yes, my treatment is expensive (ish), and yes I found a better discount card online, and YES my rosacea is being «knocked down» FAST… more and more everyday.
I give Dr. Soohoo 5 starts as she is a well education doctor that takes as much time as YOU need to comprehend/​understand your situation… and she correctly diagnosed my child’s facial rash… and a Dr. that takes care of your children correctly is a valuable asset.

I’ve seen Dr. Soohoo for a few years but will not be seeing her anymore. I have never felt more rushed by a doctor in my life — I could not ask questions without burdening her it seems, so I’d leave with tons of questions unanswered. Dr. Soohoo is also quite unprofessional implying that I was a «sad case» until she fixed my skin. Not something you say to a patient. Seems that years in medical school don’t teach you much about how to interact with patients, which when you’re in dermatology is kind of a big deal. Too many good derms in this area to waste time with her.

We initially went to Dr. Soohoo, last year, for an unusual condition with my son’s eyelashes. She was recommended because she is in research and specializes with pediatric dermatology. On our first meeting, Dr. Soohoo was very engaging and nice. She quickly went through all of the various possibilities and, ultimately, took a guess at my son’s condition. We were prescribed a few things to try & slowly my son’s condition improved. I can’t really say that it was because of the treatment over the general fact that his body was healing on it’s own.
Bill H’s experience and ours is nearly identical, however, when it comes to the treatment for my wife. She has some minor adult acne & was prescribed a very specific type of tetracycline at a specific dose. We were also given a ‘discount card’ (similar to what Bill H. was given).
When I went to Walgreens, they wouldn’t honor the card. They told me the med (at that dose) wasn’t covered. They started to try and charge me $ 300 for the prescription & I told them that I’d get back to them when I can get it covered. Walgreens told me that all I needed was the doctor to provide a pre-​authorization.
I went into the office and they told me that it’s Dr. Soohoo’s policy to not provide pre-​authorizations, but they would call Walgreens and get it so they would take the card. Following up later in the day, I found that they did call the pharmacy and get the card to work, but the prescription would still be nearly double my deductible. When I tried to go through my insurance’s mail order pharmacy, Dr. Soohoo’s office informed me that they wouldn’t honor their prescription request either.
Having worked in the medical industry for years, I know that these discount cards are provided to doctor’s offices as promotions to move their brand name products through the office and combat the generic market. The doctor is always provided spiffs for the number of cards they can get activated and prescriptions filled.
Dr. Soohoo’s office doesn’t provide pre-​authorizations because of one very specific reason. During the PA process, the doctor’s office is required to justify that there are no suitable alternatives that can be prescribed. Dr. Soohoo’s office would never be able to satisfy those conditions, because there are dozens of other alternatives. However, in Dr. Soohoo’s case, those alternatives don’t turn into a commission check.
We have terminated all care with her office and will not be able to provide any sort of recommendation.
One additional note, Dr. Soohoo has been known to prescribe Accutane. I have seen some posts and heard of her doing it. There is a huge debate on the safety of Accutane. I know, when I took it in the 80s for my cystic acne, it was new and the FDA was overly cautious. There was a multi-​page warning that came with the medication & I had to sign it. There were SIGNIFICANT risks associated with Accutane & Roche has been paying millions in settlements. They pulled the med and no longer produce it. If you have any doubts, google Accutane birth defects or the affects of Accutane on young females. You will probably find that not many doctors are feeling good about prescribing that either. Dr. Soohoo obviously thinks that’s ok. Not in my kids it’s not.
Good luck!

Although I have not personally been treated by dr. boohoo, my children have. they had severe acne and were put on accutane. Treatment has worked great and they are acne free! both seem to be much happier and confident with themselves. Only suggestion would be to explain what to avoid in accutane in more detail as my son had had quite a few issues with sun burns and some bleeds. Overall very effective though

We were referred to Dr. Soohoo by our doctor via our HMO for a minor skin issue. She was professional and knowledgable. The office is nice although the parking is tight. Front desk staff was helpful. The issue we had could have been treated in several ways, some quick but painful and some painless but slower-​acting. Dr. Soohoo recommended a prescription cream made of a painless herbal extract AND gave us a coupon for it. Helpful, right?
Well to riff on at least one other reviewer here, the cream was not covered by insurance and cost — wait for it — $ 1,000 per fluid ounce! Unlike the previous reviewer, I strongly believe the doctor was in a position to know the exact cost of the prescribed medication. Why do I think this? Besides the fact that it’s her professional obligation to know when she’s prescribing medication costing — literally — more than its weight in gold; she had a coupon which lead me to believe she had a meeting with a rep from the cream’s manufacturer. I’m curious what she was promised in return for prescribing such a ridiculously priced option. In addition, if you are forced to sit through the 5 minutes on hold that I had to endure, you can hear her office’s principal partner’s voice advertise all about the various specific brand names of drugs and treatments they provide. This office obviously caters to the Peninsula’s Botox and facelift community.
I called the office and was asked to wait a ‘moment’ which, in her office’s terms actually means five minutes, just to be connected with the voicemail to the nurses station which coolly informed me they would return my call within 24 *business* hours. So, I guess they have until next week to call me back to prescribe a treatment that is somewhere near reasonable.
If they come back quickly with a reasonable solution, I’ll bump them up a star or two. Otherwise, it’s 2 stars at best and an arduous re-​referral process from the HMO.
** They did call back days later and offered another solution. The verdict is still out on its viability.

Dr Soohoo and her staff are amazing! I was six months pregnant with shingles and was referred to her practice by my OB. As soon as I called, i explained my situation and the receptionist really cared and asked Dr Soohoo if she would see me even though she was booked. I had never been to the practice and was a new patient but Dr Soohoo wanted to see me asap and was amazing! In addition, She personally called several eye doctors to see if they could see me asap and was able to ask her patient that was an eye doctor who happened to be seeing Dr Soohoo on her day off. She even called me personally by phone every few days to check up on me and see how i was progressing. She is a truly caring doctor and I am so thankful for her getting me through and my baby through the scare. I highly recommend Dr Soohoo!

Great for kids issues! My son experience a miraculous recovery.
I cannot say enough about how much Dr. Soohoo has helped my son, age 10, with his severe eczema. He has suffered from birth and we’ve tried many doctors and treatments. We were at the point of having to moisturize/​medicate him and wrap him in moist gauze at night. This did not seem reasonable or realistic to me.
After our pediatrician and allergist strongly recommended we see Dr. Soohoo, we made the trek to Mountain View. She is extremely bright, warm and confident. I was prepared for her to give us the same protocol or hospitalize him for this treatment. She told us while his case was severe, there was no way it should be as bad as it was.
She advised two prescription ointments, one for the face, the other for the body. We had been using these a long time. She explained we just weren’t using them correctly. She told us all we needed to do was tweak what we were already doing and he would be a different kid. She explained he was completely under treated and showed us exactly how to apply the ointment for maximum benefit. She further advised though he was ten years old, applying this ointment needed to be done by mom and dad. Children this age do not have the judgement, dedication, attention to detail etc to do the job properly.
We’ve been seeing her for over a year for my son’s eczema and true to her word, he is a completely different kid. As long as dad and I stay on top of applying his ointment, his eczema is 1000% better.
I also took my older son to her when he got a bad case of poison ivy. Her treatment was agressive (shot of prednisone, plus oral and topical medication) but he recovered quickly and was able to go on the 8^th grade Washington DC trip five days later.
I cannot say enough about Dr. Soohoo. Her heart is in the right place when it comes to kids and she knows her stuff. I call her the Queen of Skin.

Dr. Soohoo removed a basal cell carcinoma on my face. When I removed the bandage, I found that she had mistakenly cut out a pimple that was just above the trouble spot and left the carcinoma which still had to be dealt with. She was apologetic and I didn’t end up paying anything for the wrong procedure, however I would not use her again.

Dr Soohoo is a fantastic doctor!
I have gone to her for several years. She has removed moles, treated a rash and performed minor surgery on my face. I was upset that I had to have surgery on my face and was afraid of the scar that would be left, but she did an excellent job. And once it healed I can hardly tell anything was even done! Her work is impeccable, very detailed and thorough.
I can tell she is a very focused, energetic person. Some people may not appreciate that style, but I don’t care. Even if I did care she’s so good I would go to her anyway. She’s especially great with children and a lady in the waiting room told me that she’s the best when using botox and fillers. I recommend her to all of my friends and they have been very happy also.

We saw her for a couple of years. The office staff is mostly rude but she will blame you when you get irritated with them (see other patients 1,2 star reviews about office staff) She got very snarky towards the end which is why, even before her botched surgery, we were having concerns about her professionalism. But, she hadn’t really screwed up until the surgery. Do not have her do any surgery on you. She mutilated a family member of ours, claiming she knew how to do the procedure. Then she rushed through it. We will be having the problem fixed by another competent physician and will be seeing her in court. It will be a no brainer for a judge with the before and after pictures.

Worth the Wait
Dr. Soohoo performed a miracle for my dd who has had excema from age 2 to 9 yrs old. We’ve seen 5 dermatologists and will never go anywhere else as Dr. Soohoo has made my daughter’s skin look like beautiful silk!!! Other dermatologists barely gave my dd any relief. She was suffering so much that she couldn’t wear clothing at times.
I would recommend it again and again doing exactly what Dr. Soohoo tells you too, although Dr. Soohoo’s regiment for 2 weeks was complicated, time consuming and required oral and topical medications. It was totally worth it! It is absolutely shocking to me to see my daughter’s skin look so beautiful, you would NEVER know she has excema. Once we followed the 2 weeks of Dr. Soohoo’s regiment, we were immediately able to taper of to ¹⁄₁₀ of the work. Now my daughter requires no medication but an occasional topical ointment.
Dr. Soohoo is brilliant and has a lot to say and takes a lot of time with each patient, so if you are kept waiting for a long time, have peace of mind that she will give you the same time and care when you need it. This is the sign of a brilliant doctor.
Her notes are hard to read and she is in a hurry to communicate everything, so if you don’t fully follow her, the front desk was happy to type them up for me.
Dr. Soohoo is absolutely worth the wait. My recommendation is that you become a patient before she fills up and stops accepting new patients!

*update 1÷7÷2011: So I went to pick up a prescription and now have to pay the full cost of my medication. I was stunned and called my insurance company to see why. It turns out that I had reached my limit of $ 1500 that insurance covers on medication because the medicine that Dr. Soohoo prescribed me, that was generic, cost over $ 500. So I got medication that killed ¹⁄₃ of my insurance coverage for the rest of the year and, after looking it up, have found out that it’s to treat acne, it’s not even to treat blisters.
I’m not saying that Dr. Soohoo should have known exactly how much it cost but I think that she should have had an idea that a generic drug was so exorbitantly expensive and given me a heads up about it and better informed me about the drug to decide if it was truly worth it.
Unfortunately, nowadays finances are a large part of medicine and it’s always nice to have a doctor that’s aware of the financial concerns of patients rather than just prescribing them generics that are so much more expensive than most generic prescription drugs usually are.
That is not to say that I don’t blame myself as well, because I do. But I also think that I would have made a different decision had I been better informed by Dr. Soohoo of the medication, it’s purpose, use, possible price, etc.