Carla Sanchez-Palacios, MD

I have been going to Dr Sanchez for years on recommendation from my primary physician. I have had a cyst removed from my back and most recently had a melanoma mole removed from my back. I have found Dr Sanchez to be extremely professional and patient with all my concerns. My procedure was successful and the follow up appointments were easy to schedule. Her assistants are wonderful, I live in Florida but look forward to trips to Chicago to have my appointments regularly with Dr Sanchez.

I have been suffering hormonal acne for years, have tried every acne product out there, have gone to other dermatologists but I am so happy I found her after my primary doctor recommended her. She is the first doctor who prescribed the perfect concoction for my acne to disappear! I am getting married next year and she has my skin looking it’s absolute best! I am so impressed with her, I will never see anyone else for my skin concerns. Highly highly highly recommend!

I saw Dr. Sanchez-​Palacios because she was the dermatologist my primary care physician recommended.
As an anxious patient, I was very happy to have Dr. Sanchez-​Palacios. She was very thorough, answered all my concerns (however little they were), and she explained everything very well. Some other reviews mentioned that she used medical terminology – yes, she does use medical terminology, but she also takes time to explain what it means. It’s important to know the medical terminology. As someone who happens to be in the medical field myself, it’s easy to tell when a doctor is not being thorough – this was not the case for Dr. Sanchez-​Palacios.
It was very easy to schedule an appointment, and the wait times were not long. Her nurse, Laura, is excellent.
I will recommend Dr. Sanchez-​Palacios to my friends and family in Chicago.

she is now practicing with her husband– new number 312.266.6647

I felt compelled to write a review for Dr. Sanchez even though I don’t often write Unilocal reviews. For me, what makes a great doctor is the care they give, their bedside manner, and their expertise. Dr. Sanchez excels in all of these areas, and she even really saved me from what could have become a serious deadly disease.
I went in to Dr. Sanchez due to a rash, and after thoroughly inspecting every inch of my skin, she requested I have a mole biopsied. My next appointment I found out that the mole she’d found, though small and inconspicuous to my unskilled eyes, was indeed in the very early stages of melanoma. Dr. Sanchez removed the mole, and tested the area again to ensure all of the cancer was removed. It has been a year now since that scare and I’ve learned a good lesson about going to the doctor religiously, and ensuring it is a good doctor that will take the time needed to protect your health. She’s always been extremely gentle, patient, and kind to boot, and it’s nice to know I’m in good hands!

I went to see Dr. Sanchez this year, The morning of my first appointment I went on Unilocal to check her out. After reading all of her Unilocal reviews, Lord was I nervous going there that (early) morning.
I arrived 15 minutes BEFORE my appointment. There was NO wait, she was a complete sweetheart AND she was the prettiest Dermatologist I have ever had. Her appearance is relavant b/​c who honestly trusts a skin doctor with anything but Beautiful skin? I do not.
Anyways, she was very gentle, relaxed and I think she is an AMAZING Dermatologist, my favorite one EVER! :)
~She thoroughly checked my skin to make sure I did not have skin cancer (I used to work at a tanning spa and there was something on my leg that I was freaking out about)
~She corrected my hot mess of a face that had pimples. I am 24: that is not a good look. LOL!. anyways my skin is all cleared up now.
~ The receptionists are the NICEST women ever, so polite and informative: they are also On Point with calling you to remind you of your upcoming appointments as well.
Conclusion: Dr. Sanchez is a Wonderful Dermatologist
My thought on all of the mediocre/​negative Unilocal reviews on her:
* Generally, people do not acknowledge/​run home to write a positive Unilocal review if they are satisfied with a Business and/​Doctor.
Well I, on the other hand DO!

I took my husband to two other dermatologists and asked them to check a new mole that had appeared on his face. Both looked at it and said it was nothing, this did not seem quite right to me. We went to see Dr. Sanchez and she took one look and said it should come off right away. It was a melanoma, she very well may have saved his life. Dr. Sanchez is a wonderful dermatologist, never rushes through an appointment and is incredibly thorough. I have recommended her to several people and have heard only very positive feedback.

She has worst bed side manners. she mumbles constantly maintainig more eye contact with her medical assistant then her patients. she goes thru ur documents and den all she does is talk nd talk not giving u much chance to speak. her medical assistant seem to know more then her about the products they had to offer. i had a bad experience. would not recommend to nyyyyone.

I went to see Dr. Sanchez to have my moles checked out. I had a hard time finding a derm and actually my «lady» doctor recommended her.
I didn’t really have an inappropriate wait time (altough I was one of the first appts of the day), but I agree with everyone that I had a hard time understanding her. She did mumble when she spoke to me and also used all the clinical terms for everything she was asking or explaining, which made me keep saying I’m sorry what does that mean?
Not terrible, not great. .. just ok. .. I’ll keep looking for another derm.

I went to see Dr. SP in 2008 for a mole* on my face I was concerned about. I don’t recall having a long wait to see her after I arrived, and I found her to have a pretty soothing beside manner. She ordered a biopsy (*on what she said is actually one large freckle). They did it right then, quick and clean. I got two stitches, and they asked me to come back in a few days to have the stitches removed.
I liked her, but one thing I didn’t like is I felt she tried to push cosmetic surgery on me. I asked if it was medically necessary – like would my freckle eventually turn into something that could be cancerous? She said no, but still recommended the surgery to remove it. I asked why, and she sort of crinkled her nose and said something to the effect of «you don’t want to keep that on your face, do you?» I said I didn’t mind it, but she asked me about the surgery again when I came to have the stitches removed. I wasn’t too offended by it, personally, but anyone who is more sensitive about their appearance probably would’ve been upset by that.
One last thing is that I asked for a recommendation for sunscreen, and she offered to sell me one from her office (by Elta MD). I bought it from her, but then I later looked it up on cosmetics database, it had a rating of 5. Not great. There are LOTS of other sunscreens with better ratings than that.
If I need a derm in the future, I will probably go elsewhere.

I am surprised by the bad reviews on Unilocal for Dr. Sanchez and the Skin Care Center. I have never had to wait over 20 minutes, which I feel is an ok wait time because we do live in a big city and the Skin Care Center is a well known derm.
Also, Dr Sanchez has always been plesant and taken the time to chat with me, especially since I was on Accutane.
The receptionists and nurses are some of the nicest I have encountered.
When you go to a Dr, no matter what kind, in the city of Chicago, you need to realize you WILL be waiting. I highly recommend the Skin Care Center.

I have to say that I’m still a patient of Dr. Sanchez-​Palacios after all these years. I’ve been going to her for several years after my terrible experience with Dr. Memar and his staff (Dr. Memar is more focused on cosmetic procedures than skin conditions such as acne). Dr. Sanchez does offer cosmetic procedures, but it’s not her focus. We’ve finally found a great combo of products that have completely cleared up my skin. I do feel that you still wait a very long time. I can’t imagine how it’ll be now that I have a son and we’ll have to wait together. It’s always a couple hours. You wait at least 30 – 60 mins. in the waiting room then wait some more in the patient rooms. The doctors definitely over book. The waiting room is always packed with people and the phones are ringing off the hook. Dr. Sanchez-​Palacios and her colleagues are all some of Chicago’s top doctors. Also, it usually takes a couple months to get an appointment even if you’re a current patient. A decent doctor is hard to find so I just deal with the waiting game. The staff still have poor telephone etiquette. Dr. Sanchez-​Palacios is very sweet, but she does mumble. I think she’s a bright lady and does know what to watch for. The visits are brief and for exceed the hours I wait around to see her for a few minutes. I do like how the give you discount cards and free samples!

I went in 2 years ago for an examination of my overall skin condition. I have a significant number of moles, and had never had a comprehensive dermotological exam. My brother, who has similar skin as I do, had previously gone in to a different dermotologist, and was found to have several moles in several stages of precancerous states. So, I figured it was time to get my skin examined.
I called to make an appointment and had no problems with the receptionist or scheduling.
As we all know, waiting is nothing new in the medical business. Its a fact of life that if you show up (even on time) you are going to wait. I waited for what I consider to be a reasonable amount of time (probably 30 – 45 minutes) for my initial exam.
I found Dr. Palacious generally friendly, and competent. She gave me a thorough exam, and was very straightforward in her tone and demeanor. We determined there was one specific issue that needed to be addressed with surgery and scheduled a day for that.
The second visit was comparable to the first, and I was prepped and operated on with no complications or issues.
I would recommend Dr. Palacios based on this experience. I believe she also speaks Spanish so that is an additional benefit if you are Spanish speaking.

During a visit with my GP for an unknown leg-​ankle-​vein-​itchy skin-​whatever problem, he called up the Skin Care Center to see if Dr. Berk was available for an immediate appointment. Yes! So I was there in half and hour – a $ 15 cab ride between GP and the Skin Care Center – and my GP even waived his co-​pay so I could use the bucks for the cab. Nice. Except, once I got there, Dr. Berk wasn’t seeing patients that day. They said Dr. Sanchez-​Palacios would see me. Hm.
So there I was sitting for an hour. At least I could view all the cabinets of esoteric, pricey skin care creams.
Hey, edging my way into a clinic that was booked for three weeks solid was great, and I didn’t mind waiting. It is like flying standby on an airplane. If they have availability, great, if not, you sit & wait for the next flight out. So ok… an hour went by.
Her assistant came in and asked most of the pertinent questions. After waiting another 15 – 20 minutes, Dr. S-​P came in. Sadly, the other reviews reporting about the doctor’s communication abilities are on target. She mumbles, talked over me, and didn’t write anything down as most doctors usually (don’t doctors make additional notes while viewing a patient?). I believe part of her communication problem is because of ESL. No biggie, but I would have liked her to listen and then ask me more questions.
It’s been my experience with dermatologists that they rarely treat the underlying problem of WHY you have itchy skin; they merely treat the symptoms. Doctors are so scared of going out on a limb and say, «Yes, all the hours of Internet research you did at 2 am WAS correct – you really MIGHT have ‘abcd’ disorder I’m sending you back to your GP with a note to follow-​up immediately with a pulmonary specialist…» But no, none of my past dermatologists did that.