Rolanda Pray, a part-time model who lives in Manhattan, sat back in a reclining chair, exhaled, and put her trust in the hands of her doctor.

The physician, Dr. Andrew Alexis, pulled on a pair of tight latex gloves, filled a large needle with a liquid steroid, and gently injected two cyst like pimples on her face that had stubbornly resisted her attempts at annihilation.

Despite her strikingly good looks and enviable fashion sense, Ms. Pray, who is tall and slender, said she has had acne flare-ups for years. But until recently, she had never crossed paths with a dermatologist who tailored his medical suggestions to her skin, which like most African-American skin, is prone to patches of darker pigmentation after healing from a breakout or open wound.

Then Ms. Pray, who would only say she was in her mid-20s, discovered the Skin of Color Center, a dermatology clinic run by St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital that caters to minorities. She is one of thousands of black, Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, Indian, and other non-Caucasian patients treated at the center annually. Last year, the center – which consists of a group of four doctors who see patients in the health care system’s general dermatology offices – saw 2,789 patients.

“It’s not that other doctors don’t get it; it’s that they approach all of their patients in the same way,” Ms. Pray said after an exam last week in St. Luke’s Medical Pavilion on Amsterdam Avenue and 114th Street.

“I just feel more comfortable here because they specialize in this type of skin,” she added. “You don’t have to worry that they’re thinking about the stereotypes. I show them things I wouldn’t show other dermatologists.”

Dr. Alexis, who is half Greek and half Ghanaian, is the newly appointed associate director of the center. A graduate of Columbia University’s Medical School and School of Public Health, he is planning to beef up the center’s involvement in research, which he says is crucial to finding more effective treat ments for a number of conditions that afflict nonwhite people in unique ways.

The conditions include alopecia, the medical name for hair loss; keloids, or large scars; vitiligo, milky-white patches of skin; ingrown hairs; pigmentation disorders; and dozens of others. Dr. Alexis, 30, is particularly interested in conducting clinical trials on vitiligo, which often has a severe psychological impact on minorities because it is more noticeable against their dark skin.

“Unfortunately, as far as our traditional education is concerned there hasn’t really been that much attention devoted to the cultural practices that are relevant to these populations,” said Dr. Alexis.

“A clear understanding of what’s involved in, say, typical hair styling and maintenance for African-American woman is important and that is often not emphasized in our textbooks and our teachings,” he said. “Without that understanding it’s hard to give the most appropriate advice to patients.”

For example, instructing black women with dandruff to wash their hair daily with a special shampoo, while failing to recognize that their hairstyles, including heavy weaves and braids, often make that impossible, is a disservice to the patient and an ineffective approach to medicine, Dr. Alexis said.

In the same vein, treating acne, but failing to address the dark spots that often follow in brown or black skin, is not enough. Doctors at the Skin of Color Center – which was founded six years ago, but is still said to be the only one of its kind in New York City – regularly suggest bleaching agents to address post-acne pigmentation problems.

“People with skin of color are going to be in the majority over the next several years, and the disorders that occur in some of these individuals are different or present differently,” said the director of the center, Dr. Susan Taylor, who is also the author of “Brown Skin: Dr. Susan Taylor’s Prescription for Flawless Skin, Hair and Nails” (Amistad, 2003).

“It’s important that they have places to go where their cultural habits and practices are understood,” she said.

Dispelling myths – that dark people don’t need to protect themselves from skin cancer, for instance – educating other doctors, and conducting research are also a big part of the center’s mission.

Earlier this month, the American Academy of Dermatology hosted an all-day seminar on “skin of color,” during which 15 speakers addressed everything from nail and hair disorders to cancer. Dr. Alexis said that while dermatologists all know how to diagnose these conditions, increasing awareness about how they impact minorities is important.

For now Ms. Pray said, she is spreading the word to friends, and sharing what she considers to be a well-kept secret.