Layne M. Fielder, M.D., FAAD

Coastal Skin Surgery & Dermatology

Dr. Layne Fielder has always enjoyed tackling a good puzzle. Growing up in Niceville, he was always building forts and other contraptions, taking things apart and putting them back together.

“I always had a proclivity for science and technology,” he says. “When I was in the tenth grade, I said I was going to be a doctor, and I just followed through on it.”

After graduating from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, he specialized in dermatology, a field he finds fulfilling for multiple reasons.

“Dermatology affords me the opportunity to take care of people from the day they are born to the end of life,” says Fielder, who joined Coastal Skin Surgery & Dermatology in 2014. “A lot of people think dermatologists just sit around and pop pimples. In actuality, there are thousands of skin diseases we manage.”

Drawn to complicated cases, he focuses primarily on skin diseases such as psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and eczema as well as allergic contact dermatitis.

“Perhaps someone has seen many doctors and been shrugged off or misdiagnosed—it is really satisfying to help those people find the cause of their ailments and get them fixed up,” says Fielder, who spent seven years in the Army and served as a dermatology consultant during Operation Enduring Freedom in the Forty-Fourth Medical Brigade at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. “It’s like playing detective. There’s usually an answer to it. Sometimes there’s not, and those are frustrating.”

His priority is making sure patients know he cares and educating them about the importance of the early detection of skin cancer.

“Sun protection counseling goes on all day in my office,” says Fielder, who discourages the use of tanning beds. “I have a standard talk with patients about sun protection, but I’m not hard on people. We live in Florida, and if they come in embarrassed with a sunburn, we chuckle a little bit, and I tell them I’m no saint. I’ve been to work with a sunburn too.”

For Fielder, one of the best things about the field of dermatology is its inherent work-life balance.

“I really wanted a job where I could have some stability and predict my schedule,” he says. “I didn’t want to be carrying a pager and sleeping in the hospital all the time.”

Family time is essential for Fielder, who loves to golf and go boating on Crab Island with his wife, Lauren, and their 9-year-old daughter, Sophia—who’s affectionately known as “Soda” to family and friends.

“We try to plan trips as frequently as possible,” he says. “Most Saturdays and Sundays, my daughter and I will get up early, go get some sweet treats from Starbucks, and maybe go fishing off the dock to watch the sunrise.”

And returning to work Monday morning is never a hardship.

“I get to work with amazing people,” Fielder says. “The front desk, billers, screeners, call center, and especially my four wonderful nurses are family to me. Without all of them, I absolutely could not do this job.”

 For more information or to schedule an appointment, visit coastalskinsurgery.com.