Richard J. Mackool's Online Review Report Card

I should have followed the reviews but I was in an emotional place at the time of my double cataract surgery. I was a younger than usual candidate, but nonetheless had to have it done. I agree with others regarding the assembly line feel and their interest in the financial aspect more. The doctor who did the surgery and the follow up doctor that I was handed off to were apathetic at best. They'll remain nameless. I do visit a different doctor there for my annual visits, he is not a surgeon however. He's wonderful! Otherwise I cannot recommend the practice.The staff in the surgical area downstairs were helpful but you can see there's pressure on them to keep it moving. The front desk and billing staff were helpful and friendly. Making appointments was easy, wait times understandable. Lots of paperwork on the front end and they're not electronic as a practice if that matters.The worst of it all was the amount of pain I had post surgery, something that shouldn't have happened. Perhaps this would have been manageable had the doctors been more interested in what I was experiencing. I'm not an alarmist or have a low threshold of pain but this was nearly unbearable. I'll leave it there. Good luck in your search.

Master surgeon, a miracle worker.

Knowledgeable, proffesional, pleasant and the best in his field I can see now all the unpleasant articles on the media

The wait can be a little long, but after my cataract surgery in each eye, there were no side effects and was able to see clearly by the time I got home. Well worth the wait (and having to get from Yonkers to Astoria was not the easiest, but the results more than make up for the travel time.) Staff was fine - had no issues. Very thorough - prior to surgery, I had five or six different people check and measure my eyes. Gave me an accurate prescription for temporary glasses to use between surgeries. Everything carefully checked for the followup the next day and a few weeks later. Very specific directions for taking medicine after surgery - follow them and you should have no problem.

If I could give this a zero rating I would.  I trust the surgeon who did the surgery for my cataracts, but this place is really awful.  It looks like a Greyhound bus station; I had to wait for several hours for the procedure sitting in a shabby waiting room with unsmiling, uncommunicative reception. Finally, I get "dressed" in a gown for surgery and waited some more (2 hours in total).  The operation prep staff was ok; I had the laser portion of the surgery and then was ushered to the "operating room".  Because there was no room for me to wait in the waiting room, I was put in a hallway in a chair outside the operating room waiting for maybe a half hour unable to see.  Medical personnel raced past me with carts and equipment.  A male nurse attempted to wipe away drops without even looking at my face, surprising me and stabbing my eyes with dry gauze.  Then I went into the operating room where all the staff was complaining about their work environment.  WITH ME THERE.  The lovely male nurse shows up again and stabs my chest with a cable (attempting to connect it to a snap on my chest).  Then I get the anesthesia and the rest of the surgery.  They walk me to post-op (a chair in this crowded chaotic room) and guess what they gave me after 12 hours of fasting?  Nothing.  A little bottle of water.  Then I was sent home with an instruction sheet full of wrong instructions, wrong medications and instructions which were different than the ones given to me by my own doctor's office.  This place is the ever-loving pits.  A conveyor belt of cataract surgeries and you are handled like a product on an assembly line.  AWFUL. Insist on a hospital.  Not this dump.

Caring, clean and very professional. My father had cataract surgery and he received the BEST care!

OUTSTANDING SURGEON. DOCTORS BRING THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS TO HIM. PEOPLE FLY IN FROM AROUND THE WORLD TO SEE DR MACKOOL. CONSIDERED THE BEST EYE SURGEON IN THE WORLD BY MANY OF HIS PEERS.

I really can’t say enough good things about Dr. Mackool. Faced with a complicated cataract surgery, he took my concerns incredibly seriously and his ample experience with even the most complex procedures put me at ease. Along with being skillful, he was also incredibly kind and reassuring to this very nervous patient. Best news of all- my vision went from 20/200 to 20/30. I will always be grateful to the MacKool Eye Institute.

I really can’t say enough good things about Dr. Mackool Sr. Faced with a complicated cataract surgery, he took my concerns incredibly seriously and his experience with even the most complex procedures put me at ease. Along with being skillful, he was also incredibly kind and reassuring to this very nervous patient. Best news of all- my vision went from 20/200 to 20/30. I will always be grateful to the MacKool Eye Institute.

I really can't say enough good things about Dr. Mackool. Faced with a complicated cataract surgery, he took my concerns incredibly seriously and his ample experience with even the most complex procedures put me at ease. Along with being skillful, he was also incredibly kind and reassuring to this very nervous patient. Best news of all- my vision went from 20/200 to 20/30. I will always be grateful to the MacKool Eye Institute.