Michael A. Lenoir, MD

I was referred by my primary doctor to come and see Dr. LeNoir. I called twice and wanted to make an appointment. But I couldn’t be able to real a real person. So I walked in to make an appointment after read one person’s review here. Someone directed me from the main office to the pedi front desk due to lack of staff.
I finally made it to see Dr. I really like him, very friendly, warm and professional.
My overall experience was good.

I haven’t seen this doctor yet, but I will next week. I just have a quick suggestion for those who have had problems with administrative staff. My primary care told me to just go over to his office and make my appt. Now, I am fortunate enough that my insurance doesn’t have to approve my referral, but even if that had been the case the receptionist was kind enough to schedule my appt, scan my insurance card and ID, and give me the pre-​appt paperwork, so I will be all set when I get there next week. Best experience getting an appt with a specialist yet.

I have been a patient of Dr. Lenoir’s for over 15 years and I have NEVER had a problem with him or his staff. I have found that when I follow the doctor’s advise and take my medication as indicated, I am always much better days afterwards. His assistant has always faxed my prescriptions and gone the extra mile and always shows herself to be extremely professional and kind. Dr. Lenoir is amazing as an allergist, and over the years, I have referred dozens of patients his way… all of whom sing his praises. The negative reviews that I have read regarding his practice sound more like disgruntled, unhappy people with no real solid founded complaints, but instead provided their personal opinions. If you suffer with allergies and have tried over the counter remedies for years without relief, I highly recommend that you call Dr. Lenoir and get in to start treatment with his office. He has made a MAJOR difference with my chronic bronchial issues. I enthusiastically recommend him and his services!!!

This has been a really shitty, shitty experience. So shitty, I’m compelled to leave a pretty detailed review.
At my first visit, the assistant assured me she would fax in the paperwork to my insurance company right away to get the process of approval started for a drug, Xolair, to treat my chronic idiopathic urticaria (hives) and angioedema – which I have every single stupid day. Everyday, I’m tearing at my skin, covered in hives from my scalp to my feet. Everyday, my lips or eyes or hands or feet swell up. A week after my first visit, my insurance company still had nothing from the doctor’s office. They called the doctor’s office and even sent them the authorization form – to make it even easier for them! A week and a half later, still nothing. Now everyone – the drug company, the insurance company, and the prescription service (I’ve called them all inquiring about the status) – are all waiting on the authorization from the doctor, which should have been sent in the day of my first visit on March 17! The insurance company calls them again today, and the nurse or assistant or whatever says they «didn’t know who the form the insurance company faxed to them was intended for.» WHat?!? Even the woman at the insurance company said this is a routine authorization process, they should easily have taken care of it well before now. (Btw, the assistant who assured me she would take care of the paperwork right away but didn’t, actually got pissy at me for inquiring, saying, «I told you this was a long process.» Sure, fine – and made even longer by your negligence. Looking back, that line was probably her trying to cover her ass for not taking care of something urgent in a timely fashion.) In the meantime, I’m missing work pretty regularly because my face is deformed from angioedema and I’m still tearing at hives everyday and night.
As for the doctor: I don’t get what his deal is. He tells me he’s a «hive expert,» but in the next breath tells me that joint pain doesn’t accompany angioedema. (It actually does.) But that’s not even the worst part. In this three week period I’ve been waiting for them to get their shit together, I have had several bad angioedema episodes. Since I’ve already been to the ER once in the past two months due to this – and don’t want to have to spend another $ 200 and 4+ hours to get a couple corticosteroid and epinephrine shots on a hospital bed because my throat’s closing up – I ask for another short course of prednisone for when the angioedema comes on (which, again, is pretty frequently these days) to tide me over until I start the Xolair treatment (which should be any day now, right?!). He gets bent out of shape about this, saying «prednisone isn’t the answer», «we need to see if there’s something systemic going on here», etc., etc., etc., and I’m sitting there crying because my face is swollen – and he just keeps harping at me. («We’re willing to work with you, but you need to work with us.») There’s a box of tissues literally two feet from him, yet he doesn’t even think to hand his crying patient a tissue. Just really piss poor bedside manners. Worse, though, is his response to me saying I don’t WANT to take the prednisone (I know how horrible it is), but if it’s that or end up in the ER again because my throat’s closing up, I’ll take the prednisone. To this, he essentially says, «Why can’t you go to the ER? You don’t have insurance?» WHAT?!?
I was ready for this guy to ask for a battery of blood tests – fine, whatever, even though I knew they were going to come back negative for any allergens. This isn’t my first experience with allergists trying to treat my CIU. Every allergist I see thinks they’re going to be the one to find some systemic underlying illness that’s causing this. They’re not and there isn’t. And this guy is especially not. He and his staff can’t even manage to get me the one treatment for it that would actually do anything. And three weeks after my initial visit, I’m no closer to having that treatment than I was before I called their office. Good riddance. Avoid this place. Save your money and your time and avoid this place.

Dr. LeNoir has been a wonderful Pediatrician to my son, and because he is an Allergist as well, it is a One-​Stop Shop dealing with my son’s allergies. He is very personable, compassionate, and professional. We have had visits with all the Medical Staff there – Dr. Veale, Doris Gee, Denise LeNoir, and they have all been more than helpful. The medical assistants know us on a first-​name basis, and they have accommodated us when we have needed school forms signed, etc. It is true his office is very busy because Dr. LeNoir provides excellent care, but I truly believe it is worth the wait.

I called the office to make an appointment. I asked if the doctor was in contract with Covered California. The front desk lady said yes. So I made an appointment.
Then I called my insurance to make sure the doctor was in my network I found out that he wasn’t in contract with Covered California after all. This is a serious issue for me. Because if the doctor was in network, then I will end up paying the HUGE deductibles for non-​network doctor.
I called up again and talked to another front desk lady. She sounded that she didn’t know much. She realized that I was upset, and kept saying that she was going to cancel my appointment. Instead of her trying to find the fact, she easily found the way to escape the situation by canceling my appointment.
This is not exactly the review of this doctor, but only the front desk.

At a friends suggestion, I went to Dr. Lenoir for allergy testing. I think I counted close to 80 allergens (40 to each arm, incl. 2 control tests), introduced via non-​invasive skin scraping. He then took his time to explain everything about my allergies and asthma to me. Dr. Lenoir is highly intelligent, attentive, professional and best of all he has a sense of humor. He treats his patients like human beings, not medical charts. His office is already super busy, because he is a highly rated and popular doctor, but I had to share what a good doctor I think he is.

I have found Dr. Lenoir to be knowledgeable and personable, I have seen him three times and we have always had engaging conversation outside of discussing my allergy needs. As for my allergies I am satisfied with the course we are taking to address them.

Well, lets start by saying that my appointment was at 2pm. When the nurse called me a day before my appointment she asked me to come in 15 – 20 mins earlier to fill out paperwork since I was a new patient. And I did. Only to find out that they are closed for lunch and open at 2pm sharp. Should I mention I had to hang out 20 mins on the stairs by the office because no one would let me wait in the waiting area? Yep.
Second, the doctor saw me only at 2:40pm even though it took me only a few mins to fill out paperwork. And after I sat down in his office… he was typing an email for 3 mins. Yes. You heard that right. He actually decided to see me but instead of talking he wanted to finish an email. Quite frankly I was so astonished that I didn’t even say anything.
Third, I know that I am allergic to cats, but other than that I am not sure. Dr. Lenoir kept asking me if I have symptoms for other allergens, and wanted to order a test only for those allergens that he thought I was likely to be allergic too (which ended up being only 4 or 5!).
Fourth, from the first minute at the office I was insisted on getting a blood test, because I had a skin test done on me long time ago and because of my other multiple skin conditions I tested positive to almost everything, even things that I am clearly not allergic too. Should I say that Dr. Lenoir ordered a skin test to the nurse, completely disregarding my opinion on this (and by disregarding I mean annoyingly ignoring)? He also forgot to ask me if I have taken antihistamine in the last 24 hr… Luckily right before applying the test, the nurse asked me, and I have taken it a night before, so the test couldn’t be performed and Dr. Lenoir was forced to order a blood test (not that I will go back there to discuss the results).
Fifth, right before I entered his office to pick up blood test order, he was watching a video. Yes, with sound. Yes, pretty loud. Yes, it took him at least 30 sec to shut it down.
And the last. Dr. Lenoir’s only recommendation to me was to get allergy shots. When I told him that I talked to other patients in the waiting room and some of them were getting allergy shots for their 4^th year (normally it takes 3 years) and I don’t find it quite convincing he told me that those people just don’t believe that they are not allergic anymore, so they want to continue to get shots. He was insisting that those people actually don’t need shots anymore. Sorry, but if your patient believes that he is still allergic to something, it doesn’t really matter if in fact he doesn’t need shots anymore, the result is that he is still getting them in his 4^th year of shots. Oh, and Dr. Lenoir didn’t seem to like that I actually talked to other people in the waiting room asking their opinion. If that’s the case, maybe you should make your patients wait less.
Basically I found Dr. Lenoir uncaring, inattentive, not personal, and quite frankly, more preoccupied by other things than his patients. It was a bad experience from the first moment. I honestly can’t believe all awards this doctor has. He might be good in some cases, but care that I got just sucked. Big thanks to the nurse though, I am glad they didn’t do unnecessary and inaccurate tasting just because the doctor simply didn’t care enough.

He may be on a few best of the East Bay lists, but I think, as others have noted, it’s more a product of self-​promotion than an actual reflection of patient satisfaction.
The Dr. always runs at least 30 – 60 minutes late, even for the first appointment of the day. Definitely clear your work schedule for 2 hours + travel time.
Getting into his office, he was abrasive each time when I explained my history and how I was doing — each time just proclaiming «So you just want refills on your drugs and to get out of here, huh?» Each time I replied, only if that’s the best course of treatment — are there newer or different medications I should be considering? Never got more than a grunt in response.
This last visit has me switching to a new allergist though. I ran out of refill on my Rx, which is my fault, but I was shocked at the behavior of Dr. Lenoir’s staff in response. They couldn’t fit me in until the next week, but refused to call in a 5-​day supply of the medication, period. They also refused to let me stop by and pick up a sample pack. [Every doctor I’ve seen before has always been happy to call in an interim supply.] The expectation was because I accidentally let my refills lapse, that I should just go without medication at the height of allergy season. Then to top off the usual delayed, abrasive appointment, when I went to the pharmacy after work they hadn’t actually received the refill he claimed he electronically was sending while I sat in his office that morning. So I’m to go without medication until I can get their office on the phone… which could be days, per my experience trying to schedule appointments.
I’m trying Dr. James Nickelsen in Berkeley on the basis of his much better Unilocal reviews and the professionalism I have already experienced in calling his office.

He’s well known because he is heavy into self-​promotion at the expense of caring for his patients going out of town to make lots of money from speaking engagements and promoting himself by contributing in magazines and on the radio, it goes on and on. He has a shrine-​like room dedicated to all his honors and certificates.
On my first appointment I told him all my allergies (many). He was using his new tiny high tech something instead of taking written notes. At the end of my list he mistakenly deleted everything I told him and he said the nurse could get the information from me (she never did). The tests he gave me were inaccurate and did not include some of my key allergies.
He goes out of town so that his patients cannot get their dosage for their allergy shots increased – makes money for him but not necessary for the patient – they could have just skiped a week instead of getting the same dose.
Once there was a room filled with patients and some suits came in. He immediately came out of his office and fell all over them, didn’t acknowledge any of us.
His office is in an old building without air conditioners – a real necessity for allergy and asthma patients.
Don’t bother with this guy. A real charmer but doesn’t care about the patients.

They took me right away when I was panicky about getting spots all over like little red cheerios. Especially when it started swelling my lips… scary! I called at 10 AM-​and was in at 2 PM
I got right in, saw the doc, he explained everything and he called in my prescription.
Terrific!

I can’t say whether or not Dr. LeNoir is any good because I never saw him. I arrived for my 9am appointment, checked in, paid my copayment, and sat there for 45 minutes. I asked the receptionist how much longer and she said it shouldn’t be much longer. I waited another 30 minutes with no updates from anyone so I again asked how much longer and she acted surprised that I was annoyed that I’d been waiting so long and asked me if I wanted her to check with the doctor. I said Yes! She came back a few minutes later and said it would probably only be 10 or 15 more minutes but I was so frustrated from waiting for an hour and fifteen minutes already with absolutely no concern from the staff that I asked for my money back and left. I’d rather go all the way to SF and be treated with care and respect for my time.

If my experience was only with the doctor, I would give five stars. He’s personable, thorough, and welcoming. However, his office staff has a great deal to learn about patient interaction. I’ve had two very bad interactions. I asked to speak to the office manager, Dr. Lenoir’s wife, but the receptionist would never transfer me. I’ll drive the extra two miles for better service.

A very experienced and capable pediatrician with a large practice, and possibly the very best allergist in the East Bay. Very personable and articulate. Well known and highly regarded among the entire medical community and among community leaders in Oakland. Former KCBS call-​in show host.

I had two allergy apts with Dr. Lenoir and had to wait 45mins to 1 hour after my apt time to see him (even when I was the 1^st patient). It was hard for me to understand his speech and I felt he was bothered with questions.