Zemel Mathias MD

I read the review by «Molly Y» and, frankly, it scared me off to the point I wanted to cancel my appointment. Unfortunately, my situation is in need of urgent care and I had waited enough for my appointment… so I went. Her review was over 4 years ago and I was hoping for some improvement.
From the moment when you arrive at the building and you see a little sign that says please ring the bell and walk in YET there is NO BELL. You immediately start to think this is a little sketchy. As I walked in, the walls looked like people had had some sort of contest to see how dirty they can get them. The carpet on the stairs is filled with so much soot and dirt, I am certain it’s never seen a broom, let alone a vacuum cleaner. I headed downstairs where my eyes went directly to 2 garbage bags and various other trash in the hall just to the left of the office door.
… Well… time for a not so deep breath and a walk into the office.
I took one step inside and just stood there. I’m sure anyone who saw my face must have thought I received an electric shock. .. Now, I have been in apartments in the South Bronx (don’t ask why) where I wanted to run back out and buy a hazmat suit to enter again. I’ve visited abandoned buildings (charity work) and… well… nothing I have ever experienced could have gotten me ready for what this office looked and smelled like.
It was DISGUSTING — so much so I ran out and was dry heaving. I have NEVER EVER been to a dirtier more run down place in my 50+ years. Yet, the waiting room was filled with people and children!!! Poor them…
I ran back to my car and called my insurance company requesting that if there is a claim on my visit (as a no show), they have a record of the fact I left because the place was disgusting. I do not understand how this gentleman has any patients. I don’t understand how anyone would allow themselves to be seen by this doctor. The board of health should inspect this office… I am sure it would be condemned.

Had a weird mole on my belly that needed to be removed. Went to Dr. Zemel because my doctor recommended him. Went back to my doctor and told her about my experience with Zemel, and she crossed him off the list of doctors to recommend to her patients and apologized for recommending him to me.
First off: His office is disgusting. Why is there an old battered suitcase in each of the operating/​examining rooms? That’s just weird. Plus, there’s stuff piled high on every cabinet and table. Looks like the place was abandoned for a decade, then he moved in and hadn’t had a chance to clean up yet. Weiiiiiird.
I can deal with that, though. Maybe I’m just a snob when it comes to wanting a clean place to have surgery done. Who knows.
The surgery, though! My god, what a nightmare. First, he argued with me when I asked if I could lie down. I’m the type who faints when I’m injected with stuff, and sutures are not my best buddies, so I figured it’d be better for everyone if I were lying down. Besides, belly surgery — you want the belly to be flat and accessible, right?
Anyway, so he sticks a needle into my belly to numb me. Has all the bedside manner of a turnip, but whatever, I’m just here for my surgery, he doesn’t have to be all roses and peaches. But then he gets started on the procedure, and /I’m not numb./ I can /​feel/​him lifting the mole and slicing it off. Felt every stab of the needle while he was sewing me up afterwards.
Now folks, I’m no wuss. I have a rather large tattoo on my back and a smallish tattoo on one of my legs, plus six piercings in my earlobes, one in my upper ear, and one in my navel. I can handle pain.
THIS BLOODY HURT. And it wasn’t supposed to! I could feel where I was numb, a good three millimeters away from the surgical site. I winced and told him it hurt, at first — he told me I was imagining things. I told him that no, I could FEEL it. He said that wasn’t possible, taking an angry tone with me. By the time he started sewing me up, I was in tears — and he screamed at me, I’m not kidding about this, to shut up, that I was being a big baby.
I left his office /sobbing./ I was scared, in quite a lot of pain, and upset. My husband was with me for this whole experience — he went in to reconcile the bill and reported to the nurses what had happened. They apparently just shrugged and told him, «That’s how it is.»
That’s not how it should be, folks.
Sutures were removed a week later by a very nice young lady, I didn’t have to see Zemel at all. Despite treatment of vitamin E and nice lotion, I still scarred — have a white scar the size of a pencil eraser on my belly, which is huge considering the original mole was the size of a pin-​head.
Haha, pinhead. Sums Zemel up pretty well, actually.
If you need medical treatment, don’t go to this guy. He’s not worth your time, your trust, or your money.