UCSF Comprehensive Ophthalmology & Optometry Clinic
490 Illinois St,
San Francisco, CA

Tried to replace a crucial lost contact lens ASAP. Despite the optometrist's effort, the bureaucracy here took several days to even put in the order, sending me preliminary irrelevant queries about (surprise!) payment. Enough to send me back to my responsive and sensible neighborhood optometry office.

Just trying to get one appointment through the receptionist of this department is an absolute nightmare! I have never encountered people so unprofessional. I've been on a phone battle with them for two-almost three months now! I have the referral and I'm in the system but either they hang up on me or tell me that the patient coordinator will call me back and never follow through! They're rude and very irresponsible with getting you connected to patient care. This process has been extremely stressful, even after getting back some scary lab results from my doctor, the real struggle has been trying to get through to someone who actually cares for my first appointment. At this point, I've literally been brought to tears after being on the phone with them. If this weren't the only department in the state that specializes in my results, then I would have gone anywhere else to avoid this kind of treatment. It is NOT an over exaggeration to say that they are in dire need of better receptionist. This is unacceptable for a university who's supposed to be one of the best of the nation. Please look into this, other patients are dealing with rude staff as well.

Terrible time management. Waited 2 hours just for a short check up and our appointment was at 3. They need to do a better job at staying ahead. So disappointed.

Dr Tyson Kim and my ophthalmologist from San Francisco general did cross-linking on my I recently. Their assistant was very attentive to my eye lashes itching and after inserting the drops would always gently rub them with a sterile q-tip. Great staff, great ophthalmologists!

The doctor is good but all the front office staff are awful. They hide behind their monitors while on their cell phones. The wait for service is long. UCSF should ban personal cell phones so employees would do their jobs efficiently.

I wouldn’t go anywhere else but UCSF for complex eye surgery; however, their patient follow-up care, access and communication are horrendous. I have spent the past 2 ½ years dealing with the cornea, retina and glaucoma services and have found the ophthalmologists to be exceptional; however, the department operations are incompetent and frustrating. All of the ophthalmologists are overbooked and appointments are rushed, wait times for appointments and in the clinics are interminable, and access is cumbersome and difficult. They record chart notes that are never discussed with the patient. If the goal was to get me to leave UCSF, they succeeded. Following a brilliant eye surgery, my surgeon referred me to a glaucoma specialist, Dr. Ou, for evaluation and treatment of a complication. Just prior to a follow-up appointment, for which I had waited 6 months, Dr. Ou transferred me to an optometrist who was not only inexperienced but also neither a glaucoma specialist nor an ophthalmologist. The optometrist determined that I needed to be referred back to Dr. Ou! Since I am still in the evaluation and testing stage, I need consistent, reliable and experienced follow-up; UCSF has forced me to look elsewhere for care.

Dr Seitzman is top notch. After an eye injury 2 years ago I’ve had waxing and waning vision in that eye. Seen multiple ophthalmologists including a corneal specialist at kaiser and no one could help me, just kept recommending lubricant eye drops / ointment and indefinite waiting. Dr Seitzman was familiar with my diagnosis and recommended two medications. Less than a week later and I’m seeing the best I’ve seen over the past 2 years! Had to take off one star because of how difficult it is to schedule appointments in a timely fashion. Took about 5 months for the first visit due to processing a referral and then only one staff member in all of UCSF is able to schedule the first appointment for Dr. Seitzman and she was on vacation. For my follow up appt, I found my doctor’s scheduler’s email address online and was able to reschedule the appointment through her much quicker that way. That system could be improved.

My strongest complaint is that the phone system is not practical for patients with low/poor vision. It is near impossible to respond using just the keypad. The response options should allow for voice response as well as keypad. My Mom has canceled appointments accidentally because she can't see which key she is pressing.