Romeo C Agbayani, MD

Dr Agbayani is a miracle worker! As a Designer and University lecturer, my progressive hearing loss cut into every area of my work and life. I could not enjoy or fully participate in socializing, listening to music, going to the movies, shopping, even watching TV without the subtitles on– or go to a Yoga class without being able to hear the instructor! Dr A. has given me a new lease on life.
Dr Agbayani and his staff are so professional and experienced that I felt immediately confident I was in good hands and would get the highest standard of care, and I was right. Thanks to him, and his staff, my operation and recovery went smoothly and easily. In fact, it was so good, I went right back and had the other ear done!
I have nothing but praise for Dr Agbayani. I found him to be reassuringly experienced, informative and knowledgable. Originally, I thought I would have to go to the House Clinic in Los Angeles for my rather complex and potentially dangerous operation, so I really feel lucky that we have such a brilliant doctor here on our doorstep.
Dr Agbayani’s great! Proceed with confidence.

Sadly can’t say enough horrible things about our experience. Dr. Agbayani was recommended by a physician friend to do the tonsilactomy on my 20 year old daughter. yeah yeah he’s not cheery and pleasant and all the reviews about his bed-​side manners are correct but I was there for his surgery skills since I’d heard this could be a tricky operation for adults. So guess what? It turned out to be disastrous. He never called back to check on her after the operation and when she started bleeding a bit after 6 days, his office worker repeated after him that we should take her to ER if it gets worse. I could hear him in the background but he never cared enough to actually talk to me in person.
The bleeding got much worse at midnight and we ended up in ER followed by another surgery by a brilliant San Francisco surgeon Dr. Gerald Kangelaris who was sweet and humble and caring and just brilliant. He stopped the bleeding and cleaned up his colleagues mess in no time and took the time to talk to me about the operation and even our personal lives at 5 am. What a jewel! And again… guess what? Dr. Agbayani never gave a damn to even call us to explain what went wrong or say he’s sorry we went through hell. Oh well, I just got his bill and had to vent out. Drive to the city to see Dr. Kangelaris. Trust me… your life is worth the bridge toll and parking.

I simply cannot say enough good things about Dr. Romeo Agbayani. I had inner ear surgery with him in August 2013. It was a long and complicated surgery, but Dr. A worked miracles — he reconstructed my eardrum and managed to save my hearing. The recovery period was good and the scars are behind my ear, so the scars are undetectable. Throughout the whole process, Dr. A made me feel very comfortable and took a lot of time to educate me on the entire procedure. There were no surprises. Six months later, Dr. A had to go back in to confirm that all was well within my ear. Again, he was fabulous.
I had never had surgery before my inner ear procedure, and I was completely terrified. However, Dr. A made me feel very comfortable and confident that all would be well. I highly recommend Dr. A.

I have been to this Dr now twice and each time leave with the same feeling. he may know his stuff but the bedside manner is surely lacking. I had questions about a concern I was having and each time he seemed irritated by my questions and just kept repeating the same things over and over without really giving me a real answer. Will definitely look elsewhere if needed again. Also there was an extra charge for a short procedure that apparently would not be covered under insurance. would have been nice to know this ahead of time.

I just took my father to this physician for an evaluation of the need to put in a tube to drain the water our of his ear so that he could hear better.
What impressed me was his staff, that the office manager and the person who tested his hearing were both very attentive, very professional and very quick, so I would recommend the practice.
What did not impress me was that the doctor was so irritable about explaining the health risks of the condition, and also a poor communicator in general. I have insurance that gives me a choice of physicians, so am used to working with physicians who are very responsive and good communicators. This was clearly not the case with this physician. I would choose another physician within this practice in the future.
ADDENDUM: I just returned from another visit at Dr. AR’s office, and had the very same experience: extraordinarily caring staff that were excellent communicators and went the extra mile. Again, the physician did not prepare my father for the various levels of pain or experience he would have. He seems to be «dealing» with the process without being emotionally present. There was no compassion. There was no connecting with this poor 92-​year-​old chemical engineer to tell him what to expect during and after, or to share his joy that there actually was water in his ear so perhaps he could hear better after all. How sad, for Dr. AR and for my dad. Also, for the staff because they were the opposite, so connected, so caring, so engaged!

I sing for a living. I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of a certain rasp that developed in my voice since I had a severe coughing spell in the Spring of 2012. I had the feeling I tore something somewhere down my windpipe.
I met with A.R. & expressed my concerns. The first line of attack was a scope through the nose to view the vocal folds for polyps or some such thing; not a pleasant experience, but necessary. It came out clean. The next line of attack was an old-​fashioned X-​ray, which also revealed nothing, or nothing abnormal.
Finally, in an effort to get a better look at the area and get to the bottom of my problem, I requested an MRI. R.A. called me to tell me everything looked normal, except he said he saw ‘a little debris’ above my vocal cords. I asked what, exactly, ‘a little debris’ is, and he said it could just be phlegm or some such thing, or irritation around my epiglottic vallecula (look that one up!)
That bit of physiological gew gaw left me in the dust. Confused and unarmed with the right questions, I tried to simplify the dialogue and ask what could possibly be causing my condition. He went on to explain that it could be from age (I’m ‘a little over 59′) or my vocation; wear and tear. I suggested an allergy test (not him) and he thought that ‘might be a good idea.’ I went away from the session with several ???‘s over my head.
Now I start sharing my problem with others. One friend (who should have been a physician instead of a musician) told me to research the onset of EOSINOPHILIC ESOPHAGITIS. I did, and it seemed to be everything I was experiencing, so I called R.A.‘s office and left a specific message with the receptionist to speak with him about this condition (I even spelled it.)
I never got a return call from R.A. I let a couple weeks pass and gave the same message to the receptionist with all the same parameters; spelled out the condition, again, said it might be what I’m starting to experience, etc, please call me, blah, blah. .. .. once again I never heard back from him.
Today I called his office for the last time and requested all my files be sent to another ENT’s office, then the strangest thing happened. I went for a bike ride, and while I was away Dr. Agbayani called and explained to my wife that I’ve been ‘talking to the wrong person.’ As of this writing I’m trying to figure out if there’s a more ‘right’ person than his receptionist.
When I think back to the whole experience, I can sum it up in three words; not enough concern.
Enough said.

My little guy had to have surgery to insert tubes in his ears. Dr. A and his entire staff were top notch. I could not have asked for a better experience!
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