Local Comes Home to Serve Community as Dermatologist

By Misty Cryer

A 2005 Carlsbad High School graduate is returning to open a family-owned-and-operated dermatology practice in Carlsbad this summer.

“We plan to open Desert Bloom Dermatology, which will be a full-service dermatology office. We are full-time, and we’re locally owned. It’s just my wife and I—Leslie Rodriguez,” said Jayce Rodriguez. He said the office will be in the hospital district on Pierce Street.

“We’re both bilingual—Spanish speaking,” said Jayce. “We plan to do some cosmetics filler and Botox, but the bigger focus is on eczema, psoriasis, Accutane, skin cancer checks, kind of your usual stuff. But we will definitely do cosmetics,” he said.

The office opening is projected for June or mid-May, Jayce said.

“We’re going to try and get on as many insurances as feasible, and we will definitely make some announcements if we’re able to open up a little earlier,” he said.

The couple aims to get rid of the waiting list in Carlsbad. “We know that there’s a large backlog of patients, and we hope we have people flooding in,” said Jayce. He said they will have cash options as well to accommodate everyone.

Jayce said he went to the University of Texas at Arlington after high school. He said that was for his undergraduate degree. “I’m actually a PA; I did my graduate degree at Texas Tech,” he said.

“I’ve had seven years—actually going on eight years—of dermatology experience and then another three years of primary care,” said Jayce. He said he first did primary care in the Dallas area and has worked in dermatology in the San Antonio, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Corpus Christi areas.

“While I was practicing, I met Leslie in school, and we ended up getting married, and we are both in the medical field. She’s in nurse practitioner school right now, and once she finishes her schooling, then she will be joining us as another dermatologist,” Jayce said.

“I grew up in DFW,” said Leslie. “We met at UTA when we were both doing a volunteer clinic for people with low resources and income. I did my nursing at Baylor University, and I’m currently in nurse practitioner school with UTA,” she said. She said she expects to finish school in a little over a year.

Jayce and Leslie have a daughter. “A big reason why we wanted to come back to the community is so that we could raise our child the way that I was kind of raised up—in a great city for families. We wanted our daughter to have some of the same opportunities that I did,” said Jayce. He said he enjoyed going to the Public Library, the natatorium, and the Boys and Girls Club when he was a kid. “There were so many different things here that helped me along my way to become who I am, and I wanted my daughter to have those same experiences,” he said.

“I also wanted her to spend lots of time with her grandparents, which are my parents, Eddie and Therese Rodriguez,” said Jayce. He said there are multiple benefits to this move. “Time with the family, that’s a huge one.”

Outside of that, Jayce said, “I wanted to bring my experiences and expertise back home and help the people who helped me to be the person that I am.”

He recognized the need for a dermatologist in Carlsbad. “At this point in my career, I feel like this is the right thing to do. I’m excited about it,” said Jayce. “I’m excited to rejoin my community and, you know, reconnect with everybody, and that’s kind of the biggest thing,” he said.

“I’ve been met with so many warm welcomes, and so many people say, ‘Oh, we need this so bad,’ and I just felt bad that I didn’t do this sooner,” said Jayce.

“It’s something that I feel like I’m very excited about. Our whole family is very excited about being a part of the community. We have lots of philanthropic ideas. We’ve linked up with Women for a Better Carlsbad. We also work with Faith, Hope and Love, so we plan to be a big philanthropic force for Carlsbad as well,” said Jayce.

“I have a lot of fun memories of being in Carlsbad, and I want my daughter to experience those too. I can’t wait to get her started. In fact, we have her enrolled in the schools. We have her planning for sports and all this other stuff, so we can’t wait to get her in. We’re kind of all in on Carlsbad,” Jayce said. He said he is also interested in getting his daughter into STEM.

When asked how she will adapt to going from a big city to Carlsbad, Leslie said, “I’ve actually been visiting Carlsbad ever since we started dating in undergrad. I love Carlsbad. I love the culture. I love the community. I have never been to Carlsbad and had a terrible experience. When we say the entire family is looking forward to it, we are all looking forward to it.”

Jayce said, “We just want people to know we’re here to stay. We want to be a permanent fixture. We want to be part of the improvement of Carlsbad and, essentially, bring better health care to Carlsbad because everyone deserves it.”

Cities like Carlsbad are easy to overlook, which Jayce said is a shame. “Hopefully, with our initiative—and other people and other movements—we can get better healthcare in Carlsbad overall,” he said.

“Honestly, it was kind of scary at first, but now that we’ve met everyone and kind of been a part of the community, it’s more excitement than nervousness at this point. We know that it’s going to be good for us, good for the community. It’s just going to be a win-win situation,” said Jayce.