UPDATE: We took our son to a local urgent care after River ENT refused to revisit the unresolved issue without additional charges, and they confirmed he has an outer ear infection and prescribed medicated ear drops.
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Dr. Wu removed my son's ear tubes in December 2025. At the time, she recommended a fat graft myringoplasty to ensure the holes left by the tubes would close. We declined the fat graft myringoplasty to see if the holes could close on their own, because we wanted to avoid adding additional time that he would be under general anesthesia. Fast forward to June 2026: My son was doing swim team for a few weeks with no issues. Then, on June 15, he began complaining about pain in one of his ears. Since we started seeing Dr. Wu, we had moved to the San Antonio area, but decided to drive back to Austin for her to check the pain in his ear and whether the holes from the tubes had closed, since she's the one who had removed his ear tubes. River ENT required us to do a hearing test, which was fine. Afterwards, Dr. Wu quickly glanced in his ears and said they looked good. I asked whether the holes from the tubes had closed, and she responded with something like, "Oh yeah, I always knew they would close on their own, because the tubes were resting near the top of the eardrum" (which conflicted with her recommendation to do the fat graft myringoplasty). When I asked what would be causing the pain in his left ear, and expressed concern because it was unlike him to complain of ear pain, she said nothing was wrong, but maybe he had swum too deep or "bruised" it from jumping in the water to swim. I asked if she was sure, because I was worried about swimmer's ear, and she brushed me off without taking another look, and said if there were a swimmer's ear infection, I would be able to see it by looking in his ear without an otoscope (an internet search says "swimmer's ear (otitis externa) often starts localized to a small area before spreading"). Dr. Wu did not take another look in his painful ear and instead said that being able to detect an ear infection with an otoscope takes years of training. We left the office without any answers or medicine. My son continued to complain about the pain in his ear, so my husband and I found the otoscope we had packed in a moving box (from when he was having frequent ear infections before ear tubes), and we each looked in his ear nine days after the appointment with Dr. Wu. Both my husband and I observed a cluster of pustules in his ear canal outside the ear drum. Upon reading more online, we discovered that these pustules are likely an infection and unlikely to go away on their own. What's more, leaving them untreated could cause the infection to spread to surrounding tissues and even cause permanent hearing loss. I called Dr. Wu's office and asked if someone could take another look in his ear, because he has continued to complain of pain, and it appears that an infection was likely missed at our June 17 appointment. River ENT said they could get us in to see a different doctor in two days, but we would be paying for another doctor appointment in full. They would not take accountability for their mistake, and they had zero care that we would need to drive two hours to Austin and two hours back to San Antonio, in order to have the issue resolved, as it should have been with the first visit. The office manager also made a comment like, "Well, I'm not a doctor, like you apparently are," rather than acknowledging that I was simply asking for a doctor to take another look. It feels like River ENT prioritizes profit over responsible care of patients. I would NOT recommend River ENT. read more
