Alan W Heller, MD

Dr. Heller is the best! He is professional, kind and caring, and has been taking good care of my family for years. His staff is wonderful, too!

I have been seeing Dr. Heller for over 30 years. I have recommended him to many people. I would not see another dermatologist EVER! He is always pleasant, explains things well and takes good care of me as I am a sun worshipper. I have never had to wait too long and I am an impatient person. I have quit going to doctors that make me wait an abnormally long time. If you want someone knowledgable about both skin problems and skin cancer as well as cosmetic procedures he is the one to see.

Dr Heller was my dermatologist from 2004 — 2009, when I live in Long Beach. He was an excellent surgeon and took great care of my skin problems. I found him to be intelligent, thoughtful and responsive. Yes, there was a long wait in the waiting room which I find to be fairly common in the medical profession, but hardly an indication of anything but a busy schedule and a thorough exam.

I don’t understand some of the negative reviews. I have been seeing Dr Heller for years now and have always found him to be an excellent doctor. If you are having issues with the prescriptions this is a coverage problem with your insurance not the Dr’s fault. Dr Heller has always put the patient first as far a care goes. There is no one else that I would trust with my skin issues other than him. His years of experience have proven a huge plus when he was able to figure out a diagnosis when no one else could. He is an A+++ Dr

My wife recently received treatment from this doctor for a facial rash which he diagnosed as folliculitis. The prescribed treatment was outrageously expensive and proved to be useless. She then consulted two other doctors, both of whom diagnosed rosacea, and the treatment they prescribed proved to be 100% correct. Not only did Dr Heller misdiagnose my wife’s skin disorder, but his sanctimonious attitude created a very unfavourable doctor/​patient relationship. He is both arrogant and, it appears, incompetent.

I visited Dr. Heller a month ago as an out-​patient with a facial skin problem. The doctor diagnosed it as foliculitis and prescribed an anti-​biotic and two topical medications, one of which was 30g of Hydrocortisone Valerate ointment that cost $ 228 — an out-​of-​pocket expense, as it was not covered by my insurance. The affected area on my face was small and the pharmacist advised me that 15g would be more than adequate. Even that amount was far in excess of my needs as I used probably no more than 2−3g. So I don’t understand why Dr. Heller prescribed such a large amount of such an expensive medication!
Dr. Heller asked me to return a week later for a follow-​up visit, without either him or his staff telling me that there would be an additional $ 100 charge for it. This meeting took all of three minutes during which Dr. Heller looked briefly at my face and said the treatment was working, that I should continue using the medication and should return for yet a third visit three weeks later — for which I learned, I would be charged a further $ 100! However, the time I actually spent at Dr. Heller’s practice was much longer. At my first visit I didn’t see Dr. Heller until forty minutes after my appointed time. The second visit I waited about twenty minutes before Dr. Heller deigned to see me.
After a brief exchange of unpleasant communications, in which I expressed my dissatisfaction with being charged for the second visit, without having been advised of its cost, I did eventually receive a full refund of the $ 100. However, I thoroughly disliked the tone of the letter accompanying the cheque, in which Dr. Heller stated «A physician with my 12 years of training and 35 years of experience is entitled to a follow-​up visit payment even if the patient is seen for a short period of time.» There was no hint of an apology and to cap it all the letter concluded with the sentence «I hope your next dermatologist can perform as well as I did.»
I found Dr. Heller’s attitude both sanctimonious and patronising, and I will not be returning for that third visit, nor will I be recommending him to my friends.

I don’t think I’ve been pushed out the door of a doctors office faster than here. My appointments usually last under 3 minutes. Any questions you ask come off as an annoyance and are answered very shortly. He comes in, writes a script, and moves on.

Dr. Heller is very nice and professional. When he was in the room with me, he took the time to address my concerns and answer all of my questions.
However, I was incredibly annoyed that I had to wait 30 minutes past my appointment time before being sent into a room, and then waiting another 20 minutes before he came in. I understand that he is probably a busy man, but I would appreciate some sort of acknowledgement that he was running late that day, instead of feeling like he (and his staff) had forgotten about me.
All in all, I would return to his office because Dr. Heller is an experienced and kind doctor. Next time, I will bring my kindle to read in preparation for the wait.

Place is fine, people are friendly. I needed a mole removed, my visit took less than 10 minutes… even with insurance I was charged $ 150 out of pocket. Maybe I’m unaware of the cost of mole removal, that is quite expensive in my opinion.

Absolutely amazing. Kind, considerate, efficient, patient, and clearly very experienced. I have seen four other dermatologists in the area with the same problem and none have been able to treat it. Dr Heller saw it once and now for first time in months its gone. I can’t say enough positive things. I wish I knew of him earlier. Save yourself the time and hassle and see him first. Definitely 5 stars!!!

Dr. Heller was very rude at my appointment (visibly irritated when I would ask him a question). Will not return and will not recommend him to others.

I went to Dr. Heller after seeing his rating on Unilocal.Couldn’t have had a better appt. He took his time and addressed my skin concerns. He was so great, I brought my 4 year old in to see him for some eczema questions and after following his advice — we got it cleared up in a jiffy! I am making an appt for my husband to have some areas on his back checked out. Dr. Heller doesn’t «sell» you on his services and he’s got fabulous skin himself … which tell’s me he practices what he preaches! Love Dr. Heller!

Having had gone to another dermatologist for a few years and having to wait over an hour to see my former dermatologist, I thought I would try Dr. Heller. After filling out the paperwork, my wait time was minimal before being taken to an examining room and within minutes Dr. Heller came in. His inspection of my skin was quite through. He found a questionable growth, told me he was going to do a biopsy and send it to the lab. I then had Botox injections that cost fifty dollars less and the injections, surprisingly, didn’t sting as they had under my former dermatologist. I strongly recommend Dr. Heller.

Dr. Heller’s office is located conveniently across the street from my office so I went there about a skin tag on my shoulder. I only had to wait a very short time to go in the exam room and the doctor came in right away. He examined the tag, gave me a shot of lidocaine, and sliced that sucker off. He lasered it for good measure and he then proceeded to take his laser to any smaller blemishes and skin tags in the area. I thought that was pretty cool. I showed him some other things I wanted taken care of and he said I should come back to get those done as I had gone through enough for one day (the laser is kind of painful — ok … it burns like hell).
I have gone to him several times since for various things, including removing a mole on my eyebrow. Everytime, he throws in some extra touch-​ups and then sends the tissue for biopsy. After every visit, I kept expecting to get a big bill after my insurance covered their measly 70% but I don’t think I ever got one more than $ 35! Pretty cool.
He also does lots of cosmetic skin procedures. I don’t know how much he charges but I would wager it’s a good price.

This man rocks! Honest, ethical, gentle, thorough, resonably priced, caring, concerned… and, oh yeah. BEAUTIFUL WORK! No hype, no hard sell, no toys, no tricks. Lipo in Long Beach… he is the man to see!