Biography
Richard J. Antaya, M.D., an authority in skin disorders affecting children, received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1985 and received his M.D. degree at Tufts University in 1989. He completed his residency training in pediatrics at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu in 1992, and spent the following three years practicing general pediatrics in the Army at Fort Polk, LA. There he served as chief of the pediatrics service and chief of the department of medicine. Dr. Antaya completed a second residency in dermatology at Duke University where he worked closely under the direction of the internationally recognized pediatric dermatologist Neil S. Prose. He joined the Yale full time faculty in 1998 as the Director of Pediatric Dermatology. Dr. Antaya cares for infants, children and adolescents with diseases of the skin, hair, nails and sweat glands. He teaches medical, physician assistant, and advanced practice nursing students as well as dermatology and pediatric residents.

“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 over 22 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. He also is founder and member of Yale Medicine's multidisciplinary Vascular Anomalies and Malformations Program (VAMP) and the Pediatric Multidisciplinary Neurocutaneous Clinic.

One source of pride for Dr. Antaya is the weekly pediatric 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.