So, I guess these are the kind of exciting, chock-a-block-filled-with-action-and-debauchery reviews…read moreI'm going to be writing now that I'm mothering a newborn? So be it. We were referred to Dr. Wesman for a tongue-tie consultation at the recommendation of Georgeanne Walker, the awesome lactation consultant for Primary Pediatrics Group (really, she's fabulous). His staff at the Oakland Children's Hospital Outpatient Surgery Center (a very cool building in itself) was super friendly on the phone, and was able to accommodate us the same day - which is huge when your 8-day old infant is having a difficult time latching onto your boob to get his meals 10+ times a day. Dr. Wesman himself was nothing but cordial and professional - the man has clipped thousands of infant tongue-frenulums, so his skills in that department never came into question. He made a quick assessment of Sir Poops-A-Lot's tongue, gave us an honest opinion about the efficacy of the procedure, and allowed us to decide if we wanted to go ahead and see if the clipping would make things easier for Miles (Sir Poops-A-Lot) in the eating department. Dr. Wesman even asked if "mom" (holy shit, that's me - I have to get used to being called that) wanted to leave the room during the procedure. I did. And I still cried anyway. But guess what? Sir Poops-A-Lot eats like a champ now. This kid could be the next competitive eating machine. Watch your back, Joey Chestnut.

Dr. Wesman evaluated my daughter also for fluid in one ear which was resulting in hearing loss. But…read morehe recommended that we wait 3- 4 months as he felt it was the aftermath of a really bad sinus infection of a few months earlier and it would take care of itself. Another doctor had already recommended eartubes and I went to Dr. Wesman for a 2nd opinion. He was correct, when we went for a followup 3 months later the problem had cleared and no tubes were necessary. His style is a bit clinical but if you don't need warm fuzzy, he is very competent and experienced.

Dr. Yeung is such a great doctor! She takes her time to explain everything and comes prepared into…read morevisits. She actually takes the time to look at what had been happening wholistically to you. in regards to your medical history. I wish all my doctors were like her.

So it's been 5 years since I did my surgery, and unfortunately I have reoccurring sinus infections…read moreso I'm back here updating my review. When I went to Dr. Yeung's office recently, I was told I need another surgery! Apparently, they didn't take out a bone in my nose that was blocking my sinus from getting out, and that is causing me having repetitive sinus infections over the years to the point that I'm on anti-biotics every 3 months. They never told me before/after my first surgery that was an issue, or else I would have told them to go all in and remove that bone and do a complete surgery/clean up. This is super frustrating to me, and hence the 1 star.

Fabulous. Such a kind and thorough approach. She breaks down the mysterious ENT world with such…read moreclarity and patience. I feel very listened to and understood. She enables me to feel like we are team navigating my issues together.

Dr. Hribar's is one of the best doctors I've been to. She was the 5th doctor I saw for an eye…read moreissue that I suspected might be related to the sinuses. She asked lots of questions and really took the time to understand my issue. She was also the only doctor to order an MRI for me, which after almost two years of searching for an answer, was finally revealed, thanks to her.

I am disappointed in the urgency with the office and Dr, my 3 year old son had ruptured his ear and…read morewe rushed him to the ER, they informed us we needed to see a ENT, which we had already as my son is prone to getting ear infections. I called the office waited 24 hours till they got back to me and saying Dr.Simms is an ENT surgeon and there is much she can do for my son. That we would need to go to our pediatrician to be evaluated. I was shocked as I asked aren't you the specialist? I asked what am I supposed to do if the ER dr referred me to an ENT? The front office said "Well we could book you but it would be weeks out", I'm sorry but he's 3 years old! I am disappointed on handle of this matter and will be seeking for another ENT.

We have been patients of Dr. Simms for years, and I do believe she is a good doctor. Both of my…read morechildren have seen her, and medically we have always felt they were in good hands. Unfortunately, our recent experience with the office staff -- and ultimately the decision not to see my daughter, was extremely disappointing. We had an appointment for a routine ear tube follow-up from a surgery that took place over a year ago. My husband had recently started a new job, so our insurance had just changed at the beginning of the month. It was only the 5th of the month, and we were still waiting for the new insurance cards to arrive in the mail (the insurance company had told us 7-10 business days). I explained the situation to the office staff and offered multiple solutions. I told them I would send a photo of the insurance card as soon as it arrived, and I also offered to pay entirely out of pocket for the visit that day. Despite this, we were still refused the appointment. What made the experience even more frustrating was that we sat there for about 40 minutes trying to work through possible solutions and get insurance information through my husband's employer. During that time, the office staff was not helpful or kind. We had driven 30 minutes to get there and had pulled my daughter out of school for what should have been a quick routine check-up. In the end, we left without having her ear tubes checked at all. As a parent, that is upsetting. I now worry whether everything is OK, and I feel it was irresponsible not to see a child for a follow-up appointment when a parent was willing to self-pay and resolve the insurance details afterward.

Dr. Drury has been in the ENT business for long enough that he has the ability to intuit what's…read moregoing on with the patient. Our whole family has seen him. For my 13-year-old daughter, he was so great with her around her tonsilectomy that she made a special trip to give him a jar of homemade jam afterward. I have had so many ENT problems that I am on a first-name basis with his office staff. Otosclerosis, allergies, keloid bumps in the mouth, swollen salivary glands, sinus infections - including a nasty one that my (former!) primary care physician thought was lymphoma and scared the s*** out of me. Dr. Drury rapidly figured out what was going on, and I felt like a death sentence had been revoked. This was a case where antibiotics was the right thing to take, microbiome be damned. Dr. Drury uses old-school diagnostic style that relies on his experience and intuition. He was never corrupted by the mechanistic "decision tree" logic that was taught for awhile in medical schools a decade ago, leading to wrong conclusions. Thank goodness this medical school pedagogy has been discredited. Human beings are not computer circuits. Yes, one occasionally has to wait for a long time to see Dr. Drury, but the wait is worth it. Wait times have improved in recent months. And yes, it is difficult to get an appointment. Supply and demand. He's the best ENT in the Bay Area IMHO.

My direct contact with this ENT was pleasant and he is an affable fellow who seems competent…read more BUT, it took a month to get an appointment with him (I have a foreign object stuck in my throat) and I left the exam with a promise of an order for a CT scan. After calls to the scanning company and my insurance company, I find that neither had heard from Drury's office. This is despite assurances via the "Standford Health App" by two MAs (sic) that the orders had been sent. Both the Imaging and Insurance people attempted to call Drury's office, with me waiting on hold and both were NEVER able to get anyone to answer after several 20 minute plus waits on an endlessly ringing phone. My experience was the same, a total of 90 minutes (three calls) with no answer. I finally went in person to the Manager of the Stanford Emeryville operation and he (a nice guy) was able to force the CT scan order through. Now I have to wait another 4 weeks to see Drury and hear his opinion of the scan. Did I mention I have something stuck in my throat!!! Avoid this Stanford Clinic at all cost.

William Beck Lewis, MD is an ear nose and throat doctor who now practices with Stanford Health. He…read moresaw me at his Emeryville office, working me into his schedule after I had taken antibiotics (prescribed by an urgent care doctor) for a week to address a possible sinus infection and folliculitis and still was in acute pain. He examined me and I discussed my complicated history of ENT, neurological, and dental issues to rule out other things that might be causing the issue. He was personable, put me at ease, knowledgeable, and thorough and gave me insight into one of my neurological issues. The visit was altogether satisfactory, and I came out with a treatment plan that makes sense. I highly recommend this doctor.

I've been suffering with Sinus issues for years now with no real relief. Once I knew I needed…read moresurgery I wanted the most competent Doctor. Dr Lewis was highly recommended by my pulmonary doctor and that in itself says a lot. When I saw Dr Lewis he was very thorough with my exam and getting all my history. There was a set back due to my own health issues, and he rescheduled my procedure in a hospital. Him and his staff are very responsive to messages and answered all my questions and concerns.

For starters, I think the picture needs to be updated, didn't recognize him at first glance…read more Initially I had a bit of a problem scheduling an appointment, had my doctor fax over the referral, never heard anything from Dr. Lis office. Ok, maybe they didn't get it. I got the fax number, confirmed it was correct, then had my dr fax it over again, still never received a call. Called myself, and had my doctor give me the referral and manually (old school style) drove it to Dr. Lis office, that seemed to work. Got an appointment time, YAY. I have a very busy work schedule, plus I was arranging an out of town trip, so I confirmed it 3 times, then I arrived only to hear "Your appointment was for last week." Uh....after being on the phone with the scheduler for about 20 minutes confirming, "ok so this time on this day right?", "ok so arrive about 15 minutes early so I'll arrive at this time on this date correct?" they STILL lost me? Not cool man! BUT..that's the scheduler, NOT Dr. Li Lets face it, dealing with schedulers, or billing, or who ever at a doctors office may not be fun at times, but when you get down to it, is THAT what's important? NO, of course not, would you rather have a super friendly, super helpful staff, then have surgery only to wake up and find out the doctor had no idea of what they were doing, and accidentally cut off your ear? or would you rather put up with 2 weeks attempt to schedule an appointment, to find out they scheduled it wrong, and have a kick butt doctor? Not sure about you, but I'll take the kick butt doctor any day. Well that's where Dr. Li comes in, he is a super star! After a life time of extreme sports, and martial arts (aka violence to my face) I figured it was time to plan on living a full life, and cure my sleep apnea. If I'm going to die, I'd rather it be from a 18,000 foot skydive jump, and not sleeping. I talked with Dr. Li about my sleep apnea, and he had answers to all the weird questions I threw at him, I thought, clearly he knows what he's doing. So we scheduled the appointment for my surgery. Did all the prep stuff, pre-op, blah blah blah, surgery time! Went in had my surgery, woke up feeling not to badly, seriously surprised at this point. Did my post op, and now feel fantastic. I don't remember breathing so clearly, I have no pain, and am incredibly happy. Every office visit with Dr. Li was better than expected. He's friendly, chocked full of knowledge and experience, and I always left feeling comfortable. I hope you never need to see an otolaryngologist, but if you do need to, Dr. Li is a super star of a doctor.

No recommendations for my injury, overcharged insurance, 5 minute visit, recommended something that…read morehad nothing to do with my injury, building and rooms are 100 years old, care did not feel personalized. I felt like another patient he can scam to insurance.

I tried to make a new-patient ENT appointment with Summit ENT Medical Associates after a bad cold…read moreleft me with ongoing smell issues and congestion. What followed was a master class in how broken medical access has become. First, I had to navigate a long phone tree with what felt like endless "if this, press that" options. When I finally reached a human being, I was told she couldn't help new patients and transferred me to a different department. Then I sat on hold for 25 minutes. When someone finally picked up, I was told I needed a referral -- despite my insurance indicating that no referral is required for specialists. Then I was told, somewhat confusingly, that I could go through a "self-referral clinic." So apparently I both needed a referral and didn't need a referral, depending on which sentence I was listening to. The person then took down all of my information, which took another 10 minutes. After all that, the earliest nearby appointment more than a month away. At that point, I hung up. To be clear: I can't comment on the quality of the doctors, because I never got anywhere near one. This review is about the new-patient access experience, which was slow, confusing, bureaucratic, and deeply frustrating. When someone is dealing with a health issue and trying to get specialist care, the process should not feel like a hazing ritual conducted by voicemail menus and hold music. Maybe the doctors are great. I have no idea. But the front-end experience made it extremely difficult to become a patient in the first place.

Dr. Li: 5 stars. Office: 0…read more I made an appointment six months ago, then took the morning off work for it. Today when I showed up, the receptionist asked if I knew it was canceled. Well, no: obviously not. She said they left a voice mail the day after we scheduled it. I have no trace of this, and they absolutely did not follow up in any other way. When the receptionist asked if I'd like to reschedule, I declined. Why bother? If that one gets canceled, too, no one's going to tell me about it and I'll end up standing there like an idiot again. Dr. Li is great. I won't be returning to this office, though.

A personalized experience with extremely competent care//…read more What else can one ask for? BTW: minimal wait time

While the stitch came out eventually, wondering why it was left in when I only had a few stitches…read morein the first place

Today I went to Dr. Corey's clinic for the first time for an ear cleaning to remove wax. For the…read morepast four decades, this experience with other doctors and facilities was usually a trauma. With Dr. Corey, this process was successful and even pleasant. I was extremely impressed with Dr. Corey's depth of knowledge and responsiveness and skills and highly recommend her to others. I will definitely return to her for my regular ear cleanings.

Dr. Corey is excellent. Extremely the best in her field. Don't even give it a second thought…read morelooking for another Ear nose and throat physician. The office calls you back very shortly after you've left a message. You are not neglected in any way. If you're looking for a second opinion or better yet, a first, Dr. Corey is the one you want looking after you. Sonja Farar