Local Dermatology Practice welcomes Community

 One of the things Dr. Megan Morrison enjoys most about her dermatology practice is the wide range of patients she sees daily. As a child, she dreamed of becoming a doctor, but always thought she'd become a pediatrician. It wasn't until medical school that she realized she had a heart for treating people of all ages.  

"I discovered dermatology and liked the fact that I still get to see children," she explains, "but also get to see geriatrics and the whole spectrum of all ages. And I really enjoy doing surgery." A native of Niceville, Florida, Morrison, and her husband, Dr. Pezhman Shoureshi, also a dermatologist, moved to Tennessee seven years ago. They worked in Smyrna and Murfreesboro until a year and a half ago when they opened their Harpeth Valley Dermatology office in Thompson Station. 

"We live in Franklin, so we always wanted to do something closer to home," she says. "We love the Thompson Station area, and there's no dermatologist there, so pre-pandemic we started doing a build-out for Thompson Station." The pandemic slowed things slightly, but in September of 2020, they opened their new office at 990 Elliston Way, Suite 101. No longer in Murfreesboro, they now operate two offices in Thompson Station and Smyrna. They also have a third dermatologist who works with them, Dr. Benjamin Bashline. 

They welcome new patients, handling everything from General dermatology to skin cancer. Morrison, who recommends annual full-body exams for everyone, says the skin can tell doctors so much about what's going on inside the body. "There are thousands of diagnoses we are trained in being familiar with diagnosing and understanding how to work up and how to treat. Which is also another exciting thing about dermatology; it is a very diverse field. Every room I go into is completely different. A rash is not just a rash. What's causing the rash? Are they allergic to something, is there something internal going on, do they have a vitamin deficiency? There are lots of different things that present with skin lesions that can be caused by something else." 

Morrison focuses primarily on treating skin cancer. She did an additional fellowship after her residency on Moh's surgery – a surgical technique to treat common types of skin cancer. 

"The bulk of what I do is skin cancer, excisions, and reconstructions on the head and neck. Most of my patients are full-body skin exams which we recommend people to come in and get annually where we look them over from top to bottom, make sure that there are no suspicious moles or lesions anywhere that could be a skin cancer or pre-cancer. And then if there are, I treat them in the office with local numbing medicine, so they're not having to go to a surgical outpatient surgery or anything like that."  

Morrison says she enjoys interacting with patients and the goal of their practice is to make people feel comfortable. "I love taking care of people, which is why I wanted to be a pediatrician anyway. But I also love getting to know people, getting to know their families. For example, in my work family, I've known my nurses the entire time I've been in Tennessee, but I feel the same way with patients. It's really about treating them like I would treat a member of my own family." 

Harpeth Valley Dermatology is located at 990 Elliston Way, Suite 101 in Thompson's Station. Visit http://www.harpethvalleydermatology.com for more information.