Bobby Buka, MD

I have been a patient of Dr. Buka from past 3 years. I had my good and bad experiences during these years. I have to admit that it was worth it. Dr. Buka is very knowledgeable and doesn’t hesitate to prescribe the best treatment and/​or medicine out there. Sometimes I had to wait over 30 minutes to see him but let’s get real that’s normal almost every where. I had tried over 30 different dermatologists in the past 15 years but no one was able to help my skin as much as Dr. Buka did. On top of that he is very calm and friendly. His staff is very polite. Thank you Dr. Buka for your help and concerns.
Your’s Truly
Satisfied patient

The experience is frustrating and disappointing. I called and I understand they are busy, I held for about 9 – 10 minutes and was disconnected. I called back and they ALWAYS put you on hold. So, I sent an email. All I got was a standard response email but not one that addressed my concerns.

Waited twenty minutes, paid $ 45 dollars (copay) to have the doctor see me for under 5 minutes! The doctor did not even ask any questions regarding my lifestyle or prescription changes that might be impacting my skin. The skin condition I sought treatment for (acne) is very common, so I think I will be going elsewhere in the future.

The in-​office visit was fine — took the doctor less than 10 min to complete a minor procedure. When i got the bill i was floored at the charges and after calling the billing office for weeks (no one picks up /​the voicemail is full) I finally got the desk. They informed me the doctor will «use their judgement» in administering care and is not required to inform the patient if multiple different techniques will each be billed separately. Overall i believe the care given was more aggressive than needed and was completed to get the most out of billing.
Will never be back to this practice and will not recommend.

I LOVE Dr. Spzouco, but the office staff is shameful. I have been trying to get a prescription renewed for the past TWO MONTHS. I don’t like to air out dirty laundry on Unilocal reviews because I understand there are sometimes problems within businesses directly related to one member of the reception team, but this is just ridiculous and everyone deserves to know before seeking care here.
August 12: Left Message. No return call.
August 15: Left Message. No return call.
August 18: Left Message. No return call.
August 19: Left Message. No return call.
August 20: Left Message. No return call.
August 21: Spoke with receptionist who promised to coordinate prescription renewal. Asked to be called upon sending prescription — no call received.
August 25: No prescription renewal received by my pharmacy. Called and spoke with receptionist who got my prescription out that day (Day 13 of trying!). Asked to be called upon sending out prescription. No call received.
September 1: Prior authorization needed for prescription. Called and left message. No return call.
A few days later: Spoke with receptionist who promised to make prior authorization happen. Asked to be called back upon completion. No call received.
(I was out of town for a bit and unable to follow up.)
October 9: Spoke with Christian. Prior authorization WAS NEVER COMPLETED. He then PROMISED me that he would figure out the situation and call me back the same day. No call back and it is ¹⁰⁄₁₂.
Don’t waste your time coming to this clinic. It’s a full time job to get anything from them.

beware this place has a tendency to overcharge. Annual skin screen should be completely free, but everytime I go, I end up getting a bill for something extra I didn’t even know about. The last bills I recall were between $ 17 – 21 and I never had this issue with any other derm.

CARELESS!
Do you care about your patients?
My baby had a diaper rash that was getting out of control and our pediatrician referred us to this office and asked that we make an appointment urgently.
We received a diagnosis and a prescription for immediate use until the lab results were returned.
We were instructed to call the following week to ask for the lab results. (Isn’t it the job of the dr to review the lab results to see if the diagnosis was correct?!?
Do they even care if the results are what they thought it was?)
Back to my bigger problem. The directions the dr verbally told me was the opposite from the directions on the prescription. Before we left the dr, I repeated the directions to the her to make sure I heard her correctly bc this is for my baby and I wanted to make sure I did everything right.
When I called the office to double check, the dr was out of the office for the next 4 days and the staff only refers to the notes.
It’s very confusing to get conflicting information. I asked if another doctor in the practice could review the prescription based on the situation and was told that they would refer to the notes as well.
This is human error and I know humans make mistakes but this is an urgent situation for my 1 y.o. son and I needed a definitive answer asap. Another dr should have been able to read the notes and figure out if the directions that were verbally given or if the directions on the prescription were right.
I ended up calling our pediatrician to verify the instructions.
PRO — office is neat and wait was only 15 min after appointment time, good for a last minute late afternoon appt.

Dr. Libby Rhee doesn’t make you feel rushed, discusses lots of options for treatment, and has great suggestions for products to use outside of treatment — sunscreens, vitamin c serums, etc. I just had my first botox treatment with her and couldn’t be happier with the results. I actually look forward to going back to see her! There are many more convenient locations in the Buka practice for me to visit, but I’m happy to make the trip to the 70^th street location. I have never waited more than 15 minutes and the staff there is on point. I know there’s lots of complaints about the reception staff, but I’ve never had an issue. They get you in and out — I don’t need the desk to be overwhelmingly friendly or pleasant — just efficient. Can’t say enough great things about this office! I always leave feeling I have my wrinkles, my acne, my neuroses (!) under control.

Beware. they are ridiculously overpriced and charge without permission. I have heard similar happenings with others in the neighborhood since. I strongly recommend you stay away. they billed over $ 700 for a twenty minute exam and now I’m stuck with a collection agency chasing me for $ 210. and threatening to ruin my credit. A bad bunch.

After this experience We are not going back. I went for a skin cancer screening and had a reoccurring issue with a nail fungus that I asked them to look at. I did not see any doctor on my visit, which I do not think appropriate. I explained the problem with my nail, a re-​occurrence of an issue I have had before. It was so obvious to my last doctor, that no test was needed. However this PA insisted on a sample, so they took a nail sample to test to confirm the return (A $ 300 none the less) and asked me to get a blood test, which I promptly did. After over two weeks, While I did get the bill promptly, I had yet to hear back on my results from the doctor, so I called them. I gave my name and information and was told after a brief hold, that they called me last week, and left a message. This was not true, as I log all incoming calls and have no record of any calls or voicemail, and confirmed they had the correct number. Anyway the person told me the test came back negative, and that I can come in to have my sutures out. I explained that I thought they had the wrong results, as I had no sutures, and wanted to speak to a doctor. I finally got a call back, with the result that the test was in fact positive as I knew they would be, having had this issue before, and was then told I needed a blood test to get the right medication. I explained that this was done the next day at LabCorp after my appointment, and they should check the results. They said they didn’t see the test, but would check and would either call back to confirm, or arrange for another test. A week later, still no call.
In the interim, my wife had called to book an appointment, and when she showed up, they had no record of the appointment and wouldn’t see her.
I have had it with this practice, they do not call back when they promise, they give you incorrect information on the phone, they lie about calling and leaving messages, and they provide poor client service. The place relies on PA’s and you are lucky if you get to see a doctor while there, I certainly didn’t on my last visit.
Dr Buka may have a good reputation, but in my 4 visits, I have never seen him, seen PA’s most of the time, and have had poor communication from his office. I would not recommend this practice at all.

I have nothing but praise for the skills and bed-​side manner of Dr. Libby Rhee. In fact until I started receiving collection letters from an organization called Transworld Systems I’d sent quite a few patients her way.
I initially saw Dr. Rhee for a medical check up and to have her look at a few suspicious spots on my back. I paid the co-​pay before I left the office, then returned a few weeks later for a cosmetic visit, which I paid in-​full with the somewhat clueless receptionists before I left. I say clueless because they tried to charge me for a co-​pay again, even though my visit was for purely cosmetic purposes that my insurance would not cover. I should add here that while I was happy with the results, the service was not inexpensive and I went back a few weeks later for more. The three visits cost me close to $ 1700, including my one $ 50 co-​pay.
The collection letters started coming a few months later. I called Dr. Burka’s office to find out why they thought I needed to pay them more, explained that I should not have had another co-​pay for the cosmetic procedures since I’d paid cash. They promised to take care of the problem but the letters kept coming.
A few weeks ago I walked over to the office since I couldn’t stand waiting on hold — they have one of the most annoying hold recordings I’ve ever heard — and finally found a person to speak to about my problem. She told me that since Dr. Rhee looked at a spot on my chest during one of my cosmetic visits they’d billed my insurance company, which resulted in a co-​insurance bill for $ 47. What’s co-​insurance? I have no idea. The office manager promised to talk to the doctor and call me back by 5 that afternoon.
That was over a month ago. Yesterday I received another collection notice from Transworld. I cannot get anyone at Dr. Burka’s office to return my calls and I can only listen to that hold music/​propaganda for 5 minutes before I start to lose IQ points.
So until they manage to hire competent support staff I’d advise anyone to avoid this practice. I swear I’ve aged 10 years from the stress of dealing with this one $ 47 bill, which makes the $ 1700 I spent a complete waste of money.

I like that Libby Rhee is fast, you have to be specific what you want. Then she will do that run away. But… I never wrote a review about her job, but this time I decided to write how she was with me.
She spent time with me only 3 – 4 minutes (which as always). I had some problem with my skin, she said injection will help. She did it and said «see you next 3 weeks» and closed the door front of my face. That’s it? I was about to ask some question about current visit, but couldn’t. She didn’t say bye even :(I know there is a lot of clients are waiting out there. But it doesn’t mean you have to cut current patience’s time. We are all paying doesn’t matter how: with cash or insurance. We are paying. Listen us, why we came here to you, that means we have a problem. We were with this problem long time. More than you spent time for us. Don’t you think it would be nice spend time for us and ask if we have any other questions? Let’s be polite and professional. Because we are all getting paid because of clients. I work with patience too, it’s not only you.

Very disappointed with the service here. Had an appointment scheduled only to arrive and find out my insurance was not accepted even after they confirmed it was at the time I scheduled the appointment. Also, the day of my appointment I spend an exorbitant amount of time on hold and being disconnected on the phone with the office trying to square away lab work for my upcoming appointment.

Awful receptionists. Most of my reviews on here are positive but this was an awful experience. They do not manage time well and appointments are always late. I understand things come up but to get there on time for an appointment and still have two people ahead of you is ridiculous. Not to mention the way the receptionist has «customer service» or lack thereof. When I called to make the appointment I asked how long the appointment slots are and the receptionist, in a pissed off tone (heaven forbid someone asks a question) said however long I want. That was my first clue this would be a disaster. I heard good things about Dr. Rhee so I figured I would give it a try. Wrong choice!
In summary, stay away. There are many other dermatologists. A caring staff is critical to any doctor office’s success and this place does not have that.

I see Dr Libby Rhee at this location. She is amazing. I’ve been going to her for a couple of years now for my annual skin cancer screenings as well as a few other issues. She’s awesome, personable and knowledgeable. I had a terrible experience with a doctor at the South Street seaport location (I don’t think he’s with the practice anymore) and after that debacle went over to see Dr Rhee. I go out of my way to go the upper west side location to see her.
The only thing that would be better is wait times can be long, but she’s so awesome it’s worth it.

After visiting the office in October, I was billed twice for a procedure I have never had done in my life (cyst injection). When calling to explain, I was dismissed and told I needed to make another appointment to see Dr. Rhee to fix the matter — which means billing me for another office visit. My insurance company said the correct amount (no surgery/​injection) was submitted for a claim, yet this office is still trying to make me pay!

Update: wish I could upload a picture and show everyone what a terrible job was done on my back with the excision. I was assured the scar would be minimal, and yet it’s huge five months later,
after following all instructions. and religiously applying the recommended scar healing patches every day since day one.
I think this has to do with the fact that an assistant did my stitches, and when I went back to have them removed the first time, instead of removing them, they had to be REDONE.
I’m so unhappy with this dermatologist. It’s not even about the shady billing practices, they’re just BAD.
Please avoid at all costs. Buka is a money-​hunger charlatan.

I can’t say enough good things about Dr. Libby Rhee. I visited her at her UWS office after seeing two other dermatologists who had clearly misdiagnosed me. One of those derms I saw about 4 times and while he would give a diagnosis, his treatment only made things worse. Dr. Rhee, however, took one look at me and said she thought she knew what it was. I hate needles, but she gave me a biopsy to confirm her diagnosis and she couldn’t have been better at the procedure. A week later I returned to get the biopsy results and sure enough she was right. I got a diagnosis of Lupus and while it’s not something I, obviously, wanted to hear it was refreshing to finally know what the skin condition was that I had had for the last 10 months. I didn’t expect Dr. Rhee to know much about lupus but she actually filled out a sheet with what blood work I needed to confirm how bad my condition was and gave me some good info.
Her bedside manner is great too. She seems to really care about patients and stays upbeat.

They were ok as far as the appointment, more on that below.
the larger problem I had, and from what I see others have had, was that my insurance didn’t pay for the whole thing, and they never sent me a bill.
they sent a collection agency instead! No bill first, not one.
Obviously they had my address otherwise how would the collection agency have it.
I can’t think of any other reason.
WTF? send a bill first folks! What if this affected my credit score and I wasn’t able to get an apartment because of that, or something?
anyhow, as for the appt itself – the front desk was super nice, I went in for routine check up for skin cancer. But I got the feeling the doctor I saw wasn’t all that pleased –they strike me as a plastic surgery botox type practice. The dr I saw didn’t give me all that much attention, I didn’t feel like she was that thorough in checking me (I have a lot of moles) and seemed in a hurry to get outta there. (to get on with the folks who pay the bucks for botox I guess?)
Anyhow, in general, my advice is: I’d go elsewhere unless you have a ton of $$.

Dr. Buka’s office reminds me of that opulent mansion that is as beautiful as can be, but once you get to know the people who own mansion, you realize they are some of the most superficial people you can come across. (Not all people who own mansions are terrible folks, but these types of people are out there, indeed). Yes, their office is, perhaps, the most immaculately ostentatious office I’ve ever been to, but the professionalism is absolutely despicable. I am not going to lie, if I ever wanted to sit in an office for the sake of killing some time, this is the perfect place to do so; I never got bored looking at all these «collector’s item» things they had in the office.
First of all, I got there 20 minutes before my appointment. Then had to wait about an hour and a half just to see Dr. Buka himself. I don’t mind waiting 30 minutes here and there, but when you tell me my appointment is at 2:00pm and I see you at 3:30pm, there is a clear lack of respect when it comes to being mindful of my time. I don’t know if I would of left or not had I known this was going to take an hour and a half, but what I do know is that as medical professionals they should have the courtesy of telling me that my wait was going to be longer than half an hour. Even, a mechanic knows this kind of stuff… you mean to tell me his office doesn’t?
Now, the front desk was outstanding in terms of congeniality, but the entire fiasco where I waited an hour and a half falls on him, not the staff who are taking his orders.
As soon as I met Dr. Buka face to face, I knew this guy lacked the authenticity that most New Yorkers appreciate. We can tell when someone genuinely cares, or when they are just there for publicity or show.
I definitely won’t go back. Give me someone with class, manners and professionalism in decent office, and I’m good. Maybe other people have had different experiences, but this was mine. Also, I’ve read some comments here with the same negative experiences, so that tells you something.