Richard J. Antaya, MD, director of pediatric dermatology for Yale Medicine, loves helping children and their families understand and improve the skin problems they face.
“Being able to help patients find relief from all varieties of skin, hair, nail and sweat gland disorders is incredibly gratifying and is my life mission,” says Dr. Antaya. “I am passionate about forming strong relationships with my patients and their families. I enjoy being their advocate and advisor to assist them in navigating the complexities of modern medicine.”
Dr. Antaya has helped care for infants, children and adolescents with severe skin diseases for 20 years. He has expertise in a wide range of conditions, including atopic dermatitis, acne, warts and molluscum, pigmented lesions, genetic skin disorders, hair loss, excessive sweating, and vascular lesions, including port wine stains and infantile hemangiomas (birthmarks).
A professor of dermatology at Yale School of Medicine, he also sees patients at the school’s Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT) Center, which focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of patients with a genetic disorder of the blood vessels. There, he cares for HHT patients with bleeding cutaneous or mucosal telangiectasia.
One source of pride for Dr. Antaya is the weekly vascular anomalies clinic he runs, where he offers pulsed dye laser treatments to correct vascular lesions, greatly improving children’s appearance and confidence levels. When the children in his care and their parents express concern, he offers the reassurance they need most. “I tell them, ‘I will not abandon you, and I promise to try to find solutions to your problems,’” says Dr. Antaya.
