Keith F Busse, MD – Austin Pediatric Ophthalmology

I selected Dr. Busse largely based on these reviews. I’m happy to report that Dr. Busse is a skilled practitioner with a strong acumen for dealing with young children. Her examination of our 4 year old was thorough, professional, and very pleasant. I highly recommend Dr. Busse for anyone seeking a pediatric optometrist.

My 7 month old had an appointment today with Dr. Busse. He was excellent with my son and made us feel comfortable. It was a wonderful experience!

We’ve gone to Dr. Busse for five-​plus years. Today, at our annual checkup and not before, we were told Dr. Busse wouldn’t accept our insurance because we purchased it on the exchange. Denying children care is not an appropriate, or even humane, tactic for making a political statement especially when that child — his patient — has no input into the decision. What other bills passed by Congress might he disagree with that will give him the right to deny care and discontinue treatment? It’s a slippery slope when businesses let political beliefs dictate business protocols — something I think Dr. Busse would be especially sensitive to. What’s ironic is before the Affordable Health Care Act was passed my son couldn’t get coverage because it was classified as a pre-​existing condition. This is a doctor who cares more about making asinine political statements than providing care to children. Parents should consider if this is the kind of person they want treating their child.

We took our son here with some concerns about one of his eyes being weak. Our pediatrician could not seem to tell if there was anything wrong but Dr. Keith was able to see it almost immediately. He did not demand that my active three year old boy sit quietly in a chair, he had toys and interesting lights to keep his attention and let him play in between his talks with me. I left feeling like he truly helped us.

Our visit today was just great. We had emergency appointment for my 15 mo old and everyone, from the desk clerks, Dr’s Assistant and Dr. Busse, they were all very attentive and educational. We couldn’t be happier to have someone answer our questions. Highly recommended !

Dr. Busse was wonderful with my 15 month old daughter. I was so worried about her eyes and he did a fabulous job calming me and had all kinds of tricks to keep her focused so he could check her eyes.
**However, the front desk ladies acted very unprofessional and made me want to cry and rush out of there. They talked as if they were in a sound proof booth and I wouldn’t be able to hear them. I forgot my daughter’s insurance card and had to call my pediatrician to fax it over. As well as get my husband to take pictures of it and email it.
So, I did cause them a bit more work, but I could clearly hear them talking about the situation when one asked the other lady what was going on. When she told her, «she forgot her insurance card». The other lady very loudly announced, «that is ridiculous! You should carry it everywhere! I can’t believe how stupid it is for her to forget it.»
Then while noticing my daughter playing she remarked, «That baby is beautiful. Well, she’s lucky she has such a pretty baby. I guess we can let her off this time. (Laughs)»
I was sitting in the very back of the waiting room and heard every word. I was absolutely mortified and spent the rest of an already stressful trip on edge.
… Because when your worried your daughter might have a tumor that’s causing the eye issue you just need some kindness and compassion.
In conclusion–
Dr. Busse= great
front desk ladies= rude and unprofessional

Dr. Busse is great at what he does and seems to enjoy it. I’ve been a nurse for a very long time — most of it spent in Children’s Hospitals — and was very impressed with his stealthy exam on our two year old. He took his time speaking with us. The waiting room was spotless and filled with toys.

Dr Busse is unique among Dr’s in that he truly seems to like children. He’s a bit eccentric which we love and my kids are always wanting his «toys» (doll collections). My daughter is about to be 9 and will be having her second corrective eye surgery with Dr Busse this month. He spoke to us and to her about the decision and she was able to make the decision herself as to whether to do the surgery now or put it off 6 months. I want to emphasize that he spoke TO HER not at her or just to us. When he was told she is included in the decision making process, he turned to her and explained it so she could understand. Theres no doubt she was having this surgery, it’s just a matter of her accepting it and being ok with it now as opposed to giving her 6 months to adjust to the idea. It’s a surgery to straighten her alignment. It’s not am elective surgery but it’s not 100% required now as it was when she was 3. We have been with Dr Busse since my daughter was 15 months old, she will be 9 in 2 months.

Dr. Busse took care of my babygirl when she had two pink eyes and a clogged tear duct. Absolutely amazing doctor.

As far as Dr. Busse, I would recommend him. He was great with my daughter. However, because of the problems with his staff, I will not return. I took my daughter in to get an updated prescription for glasses and a contact lens fitting. He examined my daughter and gave us a prescription for glasses. Told me to have last eye doc send over past contact lens prescription so I could save money. I faxed it over immediately. First, they said they didn’t receive it. Faxed again, said didn’t receive it. Finally, they let me e-​mail it to them. It took about three weeks of going back and forth with his staff only to be told that they couldn’t help me because they don’t keep many contacts in the office so they can’t properly do a contact lens fitting. Now I have to go pay ANOTHER doctor to examine my daughter’s eyes once again so they can do a contact lens fitting for her to get contacts. Oh, and another thing, sometimes it is hard to hear them on the phone because there is a loud, annoying bird going crazy in the background. If they couldn’t give her a contact prescription, then I should have been told in the beginning so I could take my money elsewhere. For some reason though, I have a feeling it is just his staff giving me the brush off because I kept bothering them about her contact lens prescription.

Dr Busse is amazing and works extremely well with kids. He was recommended by our pediatric physician and we found him to be very skilled and a caring approach with kids.
Though I would have expected more from his front staff on scheduling and managing time, we left thankful that we met Dr. Busse as he was thorough and made my son quite comfortable.
Thank you!

We really like Dr. Busse. I have been taking my son to him for about two years now and we have been so happy with him. He seems very patient with the kids and really knows what he is talking about. He is never in a hurry which is pretty rare in medical care today. There are tons of toys in the waiting room to keep the kids happy too. I would really recommend Dr Busse!

Ok so… l I was trying to get Dr. Busse’s address as my daughter and I have an appt this afternoon and has been a while since we were at his office. Then… I saw the reviews and because I am a big review writer I had to say something about this doctor. I worked in the medical field for 25 years and have known a lot of doctors. There are good docs and bad docs but I can say with confidence, and of course just my opinion but he has always been very professional. My granddaughter/​daughter (I have adopted her) was born cleft lip and palate and had 3 eye surgeries by doctors in Houston. She was also diagnosed possible with Duane’s syndrome. Dr Busse stated that she should have never had 3 eye surgeries at such a young age and I totally agree. He is conservative and that is another thing I liked about him and you should be when it comes to children. We went to another eye doctor and immediately she told us that my daughter had Duane’s syndrome. How can she know that quickly with no prior history on her. That is the kind of doctors I am leary of. We have tried over the years to get back into see Dr. busses but due to Medicare/​chips always some reason why we couldn’t. My daughter is now 16 and still wants to go back to see Dr. Busse. Yes he is a little «different» but that is par for the course in Austin, Tx. And as far as eccentric well… so is my mom and I still love her, it is what makes her unique. I would highly recommend Dr. Busse.

Dr. Busse is a very intelligent doctor. It’s obvious he knows exactly what he’s doing.
We waited about 30 min. in the waiting room where there are lots of toys. I don’t know what everybody is complaining about because nothing seemed dirty at all, and I even tried to find something but didn’t even find a spec of dirt or grime on anything. The staff was very heart warming and welcoming. We were first brought back to an exam room by his brother/​assistant who did a couple simple eye tests that my 10 year old could do. It doesn’t take a Med Graduate to perform this so again, I don’t know why it bothered some people that this was performed by the assistant. Then we waited another minute or so and Dr. Busse took us to another room where he performed another few tests. He was extremely polite and great with my 4 year old daughter. After he was done with the exam he first asked us if we had any questions. Then he explained my daughter’s visions problems to us and even brought out some literature that had examples. We asked lots of questions and never once did Dr. Busse rush us or act inconvenienced (and he did have other patients waiting).
Dr. Busse is very confident in his knowledge and I found him to be one of the nicest, easy going doctors I have ever met and never made me feel uncomfortable. He is the best at what he does.
As far as him being «odd», or «strange», or «eccentric», this is a mere personal judgment on him by people who I can only think must be very shallow. Dr. Busse was NOT dressed as a woman, he wore scrubs like every other doctor on this planet and unless you as a parent draw attention to Dr. Busse’s personal life choices this has nothing to do with what he does and what you’re paying him for, which is Pediatric Ophthalmology.

So, the appointment was 45 minutes late, the office is a mess of not-​so-​clean toys, and the staff was friendly. But, the «eccentricity» of the doctor freaked the crap out of my four year old. My daughter is normally extremely social, and interacts well with adults. She’d never been exposed to a man dressed as a woman before, and she was scared to death.
The Dr. was competent, but wouldn’t take time to work with her (and her fear) and seemed disinterested.
I’d say it WAS an experience. Just not one that I would like to repeat.

Dr Busse is brilliant, eccentric but great with both of my kids. Daughter began seeing him at age 5 and son at age 2. Office is FiLLED with toys so kids are happy waiting to be seen. They aren’t afraid of him or his brother his assistant. The clutter makes me anxious but kids love it.
They are never on time. So plan on being office for awhile.

Dr. Busse is AMAZING! If you have a small child or a child with special needs as I do there isn’t a better doctor out there.
You can read the other reviews and get a pretty good understanding of the office. It’s cluttered and a bit dirty but the kids love it. The ladies running the front are very nice but busy. Dr. Busse’s brother will call you to the back and get additional info. He has been called «odd» in other reviews but he’s incredibly nice and down to earth. The big stand out for this office is Dr. Busse. He is like no other doctor I have ever been to. My daughter is autistic and nonverbal. She has a lot of specialists so we are very use to a doctors office. There are toys in his office to keep her happy. He has the chair and equipment you are use to seeing at an eye doctors. However none of that works for my little girl. Not a problem. He uses other tools to test and measure her eyes all while she is playing.
Dr. Busse cares about what he does. He is patient and understanding. You really can’t ask for better.

My daughter has a brain injury from birth and she sees many different specialists. Dr. Busse is the best of the best, i absolutely value his opinion and look forward to seeing him at every appointment. He is a fantastic doctor and I love that my daughter has him on her side for her needs.

OK so just know before you go, Dr. Busse is an odd character. I have heard many peds refer to him, and that he is the expert on crossed eyes condition in town. He is supposed to be the best.
The toys in the waiting room are super gross, and the staff will absolutely ignore you. His brother will check you in, but he did tell us a couple times that he was not the doctor that he was the doctor’s brother. He’s kinda odd too but, family is family.
All in all, if you’re just prepared for the clutter and multitude of dirty toys (not only in the waiting room in the exam rooms too!) and the odd behaviors and, um, «different» appearance, then its cool to know your kids in good hands, I guess.

Our 2 year old showed signs of a very serious condition. I left a message with Dr. Busse and was in the next morning. It turned out to be a false alarm but the doctor was quick, understanding, and didn’t treat us like overreacting parents. It was a good experience.
Update: I have seen a few reviews on places basically not liking the way he acts, or thinking he is cocky or odd. All might be a little true, but here is the truth. When you are the best at something, you act a little different. I’d rather have a cocky doctor who is really good than a really polite idiot.
When we took our son in, he was showing a sign that could have meant cancer behind the eye. The doctor took us seriously and got us in ASAP. I know others who are in the medical field who refer to him and all I have seen is that the guy knows his stuff. I don’t know about check-​ups, but if you have a serious problem or need serious attention, I’d go to him.