Most people who walk into our clinic on Argwings Kodhek Road have been dealing with their skin problem for months. Often years. They’ve worked through the pharmacy shelf, tried something a cousin recommended, spent money on facials that helped for a fortnight, and arrived slightly embarrassed that they left it so long.
You don’t need to be embarrassed, and you probably didn’t need to wait.
This page explains what a dermatologist actually treats, what happens when you come in, and how to tell whether your particular problem needs specialist care or whether you can reasonably sort it out yourself. SkinByDrNancy is led by Dr Nancy Omwenga, a board-certified dermatologist registered with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board and an associate member of the Kenya Association of Dermatologists.
When is a skin problem worth seeing a dermatologist?
The honest answer is that a lot of skin complaints resolve on their own or with simple over-the-counter care. Dermatology matters when they don’t.
Signs it’s time to stop self-treating
Book an appointment if any of these apply:
- It’s been more than six to eight weeks and over-the-counter treatment hasn’t shifted it.
- It keeps coming back in the same place, or clears and returns each time you stop a cream.
- It’s leaving marks. Dark patches after spots heal are not inevitable, and they’re much easier to prevent than to erase.
- It’s spreading, changing shape, bleeding, or a mole looks different from your others.
- It’s affecting your sleep, work or confidence. Itch that wakes you at 3am is a medical problem, not a cosmetic one.
- It’s your child, and you’re unsure what’s safe to use on them.
- You’ve been using a lightening or “fade” cream and your skin has become thin, reddened or more pigmented than when you started.
When a pharmacy or facial is genuinely enough
We’d rather tell you honestly. A single spot before an event, mild seasonal dryness, or a bit of dullness you’d like brightened are all reasonable things to handle with good over-the-counter products or a decent facial. What a facial cannot do is treat active inflammatory acne, diagnose a rash, manage eczema, or tell you whether a growth is harmless.
The distinction worth remembering: aestheticians improve the appearance of healthy skin. Dermatologists diagnose and treat skin that isn’t behaving.
What happens at your first appointment
A consultation is a medical appointment, so it’s more thorough than most people expect.
Dr Nancy will take a history — how long it’s been going on, what you’ve already tried, what makes it better or worse, what else is happening with your health. She’ll examine the affected skin properly, and often the rest of it too, because rashes tell a fuller story when you see the whole picture. Where the diagnosis isn’t obvious from looking, we can take a small sample for laboratory analysis in the same visit.
You’ll leave with an actual diagnosis and a written plan: what to use, how to use it, how long before you should expect a change, and what to do if it doesn’t come. Fees are quoted before you attend, so there are no surprises.
One thing worth saying: bring your products. Every cream, serum, soap and oil currently on your face, in the bag if you can. A surprising proportion of stubborn facial rashes in this city turn out to be a reaction to something the patient is applying daily and has never suspected.
Medical dermatology: conditions we treat
This is the core of the practice — diagnosing and treating disease of the skin, hair and nails.
| Condition | What patients notice | Typical approach |
|---|---|---|
| Acne | Spots, blackheads, cysts, marks left behind | Topical or oral therapy, tailored to severity and skin type |
| Eczema and dermatitis | Dry, itchy, inflamed patches; flares and settles | Barrier repair, anti-inflammatory treatment, trigger identification |
| Hyperpigmentation and melasma | Dark patches, uneven tone, marks after spots | Pigment-directed treatment plus strict sun protection |
| Hair loss | Thinning, patches, receding edges, breakage | Diagnosis of cause first — treatment differs entirely by type |
| Fungal and bacterial infections | Ringworm, itching, weeping or crusted skin | Confirming the organism, then targeted treatment |
| Psoriasis | Thick scaly plaques, often knees, elbows, scalp | Long-term control with topical and systemic options |
| Vitiligo | Loss of pigment in patches | Stabilising spread, repigmentation where possible |
| Lichen planus | Itchy purple bumps, sometimes in the mouth | Anti-inflammatory treatment, monitoring |
Long-term conditions that need managing, not curing
Eczema, psoriasis and vitiligo are chronic. Anyone promising to cure them is not being straight with you. What good dermatological care does is bring them under control, keep them there, reduce how often flares happen and how bad they get when they do, and adjust the plan as your circumstances change. Patients who accept that framing early tend to do considerably better than those chasing a permanent fix.
Procedures and minor surgery
Not everything is treated with a cream. Several conditions are handled far more effectively in the treatment room.
| Procedure | Commonly used for |
|---|---|
| Skin biopsies | Confirming a diagnosis when examination alone isn’t conclusive |
| Cryotherapy | Warts, sun-damage spots, some benign growths |
| Electrocautery | Skin tags, small growths, certain lesions |
| Keloid removal | Raised scars, often after piercings, surgery or acne |
| Intralesional steroid injections | Keloids, stubborn inflamed cysts, patchy hair loss |
| Chemical peels | Pigmentation, acne marks, texture |
| Microneedling | Acne scarring, skin texture, collagen stimulation |
| Mole excision | Removing moles for diagnostic or cosmetic reasons |
| Skin tag removal | Tags on neck, underarms, eyelids |
| Skin lesion scraping | Sampling for fungal and other laboratory testing |
| Ingrown toenail surgery | Painful, recurring or infected ingrown nails |
| GFC for hair growth | Growth factor concentrate therapy for thinning hair |
Keloids deserve a particular mention. They’re considerably more common in darker skin, they don’t resolve on their own, and they frequently recur if simply cut out without follow-up treatment. If you have one, the sensible move is a proper assessment rather than a quick removal somewhere that doesn’t manage the recurrence risk.
Specialist consultations
Paediatric dermatology
Children’s skin is not adult skin at smaller scale. It absorbs topical medication differently, which means some products safe for you are not safe for a five-year-old. Childhood eczema in particular is common, distressing for the whole household, and very treatable with the right plan. Paediatric dermatology consultations cover eczema, birthmarks, rashes, infections and nappy-area problems.
Aesthetic dermatology
Cosmetic concerns handled by a doctor who also treats disease — which matters, because the same pigmentation you’d like reduced might be melasma, a reaction, or the aftermath of something inflammatory. Treating the appearance without identifying the cause is how people end up back where they started. See aesthetic dermatology.
Genital skin and sexual health
Not every genital skin complaint is a sexually transmitted infection, and not every STI looks the way people expect. These are ordinary medical problems, seen confidentially and without judgement. Venereal disease consultations cover diagnosis, testing and treatment.
Treating skin of colour properly
If there’s one thing that separates dermatology done well in Nairobi from dermatology done generically, it’s this.
In darker skin, inflammation leaves pigment behind. A spot that lasts a week can leave a mark that lasts eight months. This changes how treatment should be approached in three practical ways:
- Getting inflammation down quickly matters more, because every extra week of inflammation is more pigment deposited.
- Aggressive treatment can backfire. Peels and lasers set too strong for the skin type can cause the exact discolouration they were meant to fix.
- Judging progress by the spots alone is misleading. The acne may be controlled while the marks remain — and if nobody has explained that the marks fade on a slower timeline, it feels like failure.
Patients regularly arrive convinced previous treatment didn’t work, when in fact the original condition cleared and what remains is post-inflammatory pigmentation that was never addressed. It’s a treatable problem, but it needs naming first.
What Nairobi does to your skin
Altitude and equatorial sun
Nairobi sits roughly 1,800 metres above sea level, almost on the equator. UV exposure is meaningfully stronger here than at the coast or at higher latitudes, and it’s strong year-round rather than seasonal. Because it rarely feels punishingly hot, people underestimate it.
This matters enormously for pigmentation. Melasma and post-inflammatory marks are driven by UV, and no pigmentation treatment will hold without daily sun protection. It’s the single most common reason treatment plans fail — not the prescription, the sunscreen that got used for three weeks and then abandoned.
The lightening cream problem
Unregulated skin-lightening products remain widely available and widely used. Many contain potent steroids or high-strength hydroquinone. Used over months they thin the skin, cause visible broken vessels, trigger steroid-induced acne, and in a cruel irony often produce darker, more stubborn pigmentation than the patient started with.
If you’ve been using one, bring it in. Stopping abruptly can cause a rebound flare, so it’s better done with guidance than alone.
How to choose a dermatologist in Nairobi
Whether or not you come to us, this is worth checking. A quick checklist:
- Confirm KMPDB registration. Anyone practising medicine in Kenya must be registered with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board. “Skin specialist” is not a protected term; “registered dermatologist” means something.
- Ask about training specifically in dermatology. A dermatology residency is a distinct qualification, not a short course.
- Check they treat disease, not only appearance. Clinics offering exclusively cosmetic procedures may not be equipped to diagnose a rash.
- Ask whether fees are quoted upfront. They should be.
- Notice whether they ask about your products and history, or head straight for a treatment recommendation.
- Be wary of guaranteed results, particularly for chronic conditions.
Fees, insurance and how to book
Fees are quoted before your appointment so you know the cost in advance, and most medical insurance schemes are accepted. Consultation costs across Nairobi vary considerably by clinic and location — what matters more is whether you leave with an actual diagnosis and a plan you understand.
We are open Monday to Friday 7:00am – 6:30pm and Saturday 7:00am – 12:00pm. The early start is deliberate: plenty of patients come before work.
Call or WhatsApp 0728 566990, email info@skinbydrnancy.com, or book an appointment online.
Finding the clinic
We are at Landmark Plaza, 2nd Floor, Argwings Kodhek Road, Nairobi — in Hurlingham, minutes from Upper Hill and Kilimani, and straightforward to reach from most of the city.
We see patients from across Nairobi, including Kilimani, Westlands, Karen and Langata, Lavington and the CBD. See all the areas we serve.
Questions patients ask
Do I need a referral to see a dermatologist?
Not to book with us directly — you are welcome to make an appointment yourself. If you are claiming through an insurance scheme, check their requirements, as some do require a referral from a primary facility before covering specialist outpatient care.
How long before I see improvement?
It depends entirely on the condition. Fungal infections often improve within a fortnight. Acne typically needs six to twelve weeks for a fair assessment. Pigmentation is slower still — several months. Anyone promising faster is overselling.
Is a dermatologist only for serious conditions?
No. Persistent acne, recurring dandruff and stubborn dark marks are all entirely reasonable reasons to come. Earlier is generally better, particularly where scarring or pigmentation is a risk.
Can you treat children?
Yes. Paediatric dermatology is part of the practice, and children’s skin genuinely needs different handling.
Will I need a biopsy?
Usually not. Most conditions are diagnosed on examination and history. Where there is real doubt, a biopsy gives a definite answer rather than a guess.
I have used lightening creams for years. Is the damage permanent?
Often not, though it depends on what was used and for how long. Some effects reverse slowly once the product stops; others need active treatment. It is worth being assessed rather than assumed.
Do you treat hair loss?
Yes, and the first job is identifying the type — traction, pattern, patchy, inflammatory or nutritional. They are treated very differently, which is why over-the-counter hair products so often disappoint.
What should I bring?
Any products you are using, any previous prescriptions or test results, and a rough timeline of when things started and what you have tried.
Book an appointment
If something on your skin has been bothering you for longer than it should, it is worth having it looked at properly. Most conditions we see are treatable, and most are considerably easier to treat before they have been going on for years.
SkinByDrNancy
Landmark Plaza, 2nd Floor, Argwings Kodhek Road, Nairobi
Call or WhatsApp 0728 566990 | info@skinbydrnancy.com
Monday–Friday 7:00am – 6:30pm | Saturday 7:00am – 12:00pm