Tsuan Li, MD

Definitely update the picture (Dr. Li is clean shaven). He listened, looked and saw the issue right away (had been missed by regular primary docs). Gave me options along with education as to the pros and cons of each. We agreed on a plan of action. His treatment was the first that had worked out of many. We now are planning for long term results as a team. I can’t recommend him more highly. The staff was OK. I saw him within 15 minutes of my appointment time. The office appears to be doing much better with time management. He is my recommendation for anyone that needs a good ENT.

For starters, I think the picture needs to be updated, didn’t recognize him at first glance.
Initially I had a bit of a problem scheduling an appointment, had my doctor fax over the referral, never heard anything from Dr. Lis office. Ok, maybe they didn’t get it. I got the fax number, confirmed it was correct, then had my dr fax it over again, still never received a call. Called myself, and had my doctor give me the referral and manually (old school style) drove it to Dr. Lis office, that seemed to work. Got an appointment time, YAY. I have a very busy work schedule, plus I was arranging an out of town trip, so I confirmed it 3 times, then I arrived only to hear «Your appointment was for last week.» Uh… after being on the phone with the scheduler for about 20 minutes confirming, «ok so this time on this day right?», «ok so arrive about 15 minutes early so I’ll arrive at this time on this date correct?» they STILL lost me? Not cool man! BUT. that’s the scheduler, NOT Dr. Li
Lets face it, dealing with schedulers, or billing, or who ever at a doctors office may not be fun at times, but when you get down to it, is THAT what’s important? NO, of course not, would you rather have a super friendly, super helpful staff, then have surgery only to wake up and find out the doctor had no idea of what they were doing, and accidentally cut off your ear? or would you rather put up with 2 weeks attempt to schedule an appointment, to find out they scheduled it wrong, and have a kick butt doctor? Not sure about you, but I’ll take the kick butt doctor any day. Well that’s where Dr. Li comes in, he is a super star!
After a life time of extreme sports, and martial arts (aka violence to my face) I figured it was time to plan on living a full life, and cure my sleep apnea. If I’m going to die, I’d rather it be from a 18,000 foot skydive jump, and not sleeping. I talked with Dr. Li about my sleep apnea, and he had answers to all the weird questions I threw at him, I thought, clearly he knows what he’s doing. So we scheduled the appointment for my surgery.
Did all the prep stuff, pre-​op, blah blah blah, surgery time! Went in had my surgery, woke up feeling not to badly, seriously surprised at this point. Did my post op, and now feel fantastic. I don’t remember breathing so clearly, I have no pain, and am incredibly happy.
Every office visit with Dr. Li was better than expected. He’s friendly, chocked full of knowledge and experience, and I always left feeling comfortable. I hope you never need to see an otolaryngologist, but if you do need to, Dr. Li is a super star of a doctor.

The staff were all nice and my wait time was about 15minutes. Dr Li knows his stuff. He took a look told me it was fungal ear infection. He removed the gunk, prescribed acetic solution. Done. I went to 2 other doctors before, but they weren’t ENT specialists, and had the wrong diagnosis.
Making appt: I called and left msg on Saturday. I was called back on Monday and given an appointment on Friday. The other place I called said 2 weeks wait. So I guess 4 days wait is pretty good.
Overall, very satisfied with the smart, personable doctor and nice staff. Would have liked appointment scheduling sooner, but that’s the way it is with most places.

Dr Li is super doctor, very smart, up to date, attentive and honest. Very personable and great results and follow-​up by him and his staff.

I really do not recommend this doctor for soft tissue oral surgery, although for other non-​surgical competencies he is probably fine if you don’t mind waiting an obscene about of time and dealing with a somewhat unfriendly staff. I found Dr. Li because he is the only ENT who was contracted through my school health insurance, and I had oral surgery for a mucocele with him about two years ago. I had to wait three months for an appointment, during which time the mucocele got bigger, leading to more complications when the surgery was preformed (he alluded to the complications being because of the size of the cyst when I went back to follow-​up).
At the office before the procedure I waited for over an hour, and then I was asked to sign a liability release before I even had a consultation with/​met him. He cut open my lip, and then gave me stitches. I was not told that I would have scar tissue or that he would be cutting out part of the muscle of the lip (when they remove a cyst, they do not only remove the cyst, they also damage and remove part of the surrounding tissue). In the middle of the procedure when he told me I might have ongoing numbness for up to six months (What?! You really could not have told me that before you had me in position where I could not move or speak?) which was traumatic for me, and I still have less sensation in that part of my lip.
Two of the stitches came directly after the procedure, and my phone calls were not returned when I called his office. When I complained about not being told anything about risks of the procedure or the long healing time upon a revisit, he said «You seem really sensitive.» This was incredibly patronizing. He also denied not telling me anything of the risks of the procedure before it was preformed even though he did NOT tell me about any of the risks before the procedure.
I found out later that there are effective non-​surgical ways to remedy mucoceles (marsupialization or CO2 laser in particular) which are associated with less complications, so I really wish I had done research first to find a clinician who would have preformed another procedure before I had it surgically removed/​cut out with a scalpel.
ADVICE: Do A LOT of research before you have any surgery, and make sure that the person you pick practices the procedure which is the LEAST INVASIVE (and therefore have fewer possible complications/​room for surgical error) for your condition. Often practitioners use particular modalities for insurance billing purposes, and/​or because it was the procedure they were taught in medical school, which might not be the least invasive (or newest) technology with the fewest possible complications. Good luck!

I’ve been a patient of Dr. Li for several years, and the reviews are right about the wait: Bring a book, and make sure you advocate for yourself if he appears distracted. Unfortunately, he’s the kind of doctor that, over a lot of visits, has shown that he’s willing to spend the time with you when it’s warranted, and as such his schedule is a disaster.
Interpersonal is great, and he did two nasal surgeries for me that both worked out wonderfully.

Totally bummed that his office is so poorly run. Or maybe he has terrible time management?
Embarrassingly, I was referred to him through a colleague, as I desperately needed my tonsils taken a peek at. First, it took over a week just to get in. Okay?- so this place is popping’. Great sign, right? Next, their website appears to be very well maintained– leading me to believe their office was as well. So far so good. First sign of yuck was when I asked to be put on the «cancel-​call» list so I could take the spot of any no-​shows/​cancelations. The reception quickly informed me that they do not offer that to patients. I must call everyday to see if any one has canceled. Huh? I mean? What? Lol. This is a specialists’ office. People flake all the time for consults. But, I guess truth be told, this was truly a blessing in disguise. Continue…
After I walked in to the building, I wanted (and should have) just walked right out. Straight clinic status. The offices themselves are of a certain age, bordering dingy and questionable in sanitation. Staff and patients combined created such a chaotic atmosphere.
I couldn’t tell you how long I would have had to wait for this doctor because I left after the first hour. Truth be told, I left because my precious $ 2.00 metered parking stamp was about to run out and I wasn’t about to walk 3 blocks round trip to put $ 123.00 in this practice’s pocket. The worst part was when I was leaving I had passed by the front to let them know I would be parting. One of the receptionists was ultra apologetic, but the other, more lead lady was totally apathetic. Does this happen all the time? And why did she look so totally blasé about the issue? Hello. Sick people are here to shove $$$ in your pocket for some damn relief. Where the heck is this doctor? And why can’t the staff find him?
The Doc may be amazing! Again, totally bummed he flaked. Cannot say I would ever recommend anything less than «don’t bother» on this spot.

Dr. Li is attentive, professional, and enthusiastic. I came to his office after a respiratory infection damaged my singing voice and he checked out my vocal chords with a camera. I was happy to find that my condition is not worthy of surgery! He prescribed voice rest, a couple sessions with his speech therapist, and more hot tea/​throatlozenges etc. I will update in a couple of months with results!
I knocked one star off because I had to wait over an hour past my appointment time to get in. :(

Don’t make your appointment when its almost lunch break. He will not pay attention to your needs. He did not even listen as I was explaining my symptoms and literally rushed me out from his office. And I waited for 45 minutes in the receiving room for his 5 minutes consultation.

Dr. Li was great and I had nearly no wait to see him.
Update: A year and a half later and my new nose is working perfectly and looking mighty fine. I asked the doctor to leave some of the character I had become used to with my nose (face) with out the lack of breathing and the broken hook thing the motorcycle accident left me with and he understood exactly what I meant and delivered. There I was the old me, minus the football miscue in the end zone break, The skateboarder too cool for common sense break and the I’m 21 and to dumb to know how stupid I am at 90+ MPH motorcycle accident break. There was a lot of gnarly to deal with but he did it! .I am very, very grateful. Excellent Surgeon.

Although I had to wait. The doctor apologized sincerely and gave me an awesome appointment. I had another appointment today and didn’t have to wait as long which was refreshing. The ladies at the front desk are very nice as well.

The first time I went to the office I had to reschedule because they were running 50 minutes behind and given I had another appointment after this appointment, I wasn’t going to chance missing the next appointment.
The next time I rescheduled they were running 40 minutes behind schedule. Better but still not great. I was thoroughly irritated but still tried to be upbeat about the appointment. That extra time period allowed me to be very thorough about filling out my paperwork (maybe too much) that probably put me at a disadvantage giving him so much information ahead of time and not allowing him to ask me questions in the exam room because he came in the exam room really disinterested in asking me any questions. What kind of doctor doesn’t ask any questions?
He said my ringing in my ears was due to old age and that if I’m annoyed by it I should turn up the music. No questions on my symptoms, habits, etc. I told my GP and my neurologists that and they all thought that was absurd. And then Dr. Li had the audacity to ask if I wanted to make an appointment with the Audiologist. Why would you ask if I wanted to make an appointment to check my hearing if you said that my ringing in my hears was due to old and and then go say to check my hearing if its all good? Especially if I told you that my doctor already checked it and there were no problems? Wouldn’t you suspect that its another issue? That is precisely why doctors ask questions directly from the patient.
The whole entire appointment he was listening to himself talk because there were two other people in the room, a trainee and a person typing. It was an unbelievable waste of time and money. Wish my insurance hadn’t paid him.
Plus the actual office is weird unpleasant. Would not like to go again.
Would not recommend.

Dr Li is the best ENT doctor I have ever experienced. Its true that you may have to wait a little longer in his waiting room sometimes, but I can say it’s totally worth it, because you will be treated by a very knowledgable and very kind doctor.
Dr Li also performed surgery on me; he aligned my deviated nasal septum and he cut out my nasal polyps. Dr Li performed the surgery at the Alta Bates Surgery Center in Oakland and it went really quick, within 3 – 4 hours I was back home.
I had heard from other people that this surgery can be quite painful, but thanks to Dr Li (and the drugs he prescribed) the pain was so minimal, it really just felt like i had a very very bad cold. I was just amazed.
I can only highly recommend Dr Tsuan Li !!!

Over an hour wait every time to get in. If you are a working person, do not come here, unless you can take hours off of work to wait in the waiting room.

I am SO over Dr. Li! Although he is a great doctor (ONCE YOU GET TO SEE HIM!), the wait times are just plain unacceptable! I had an appointment to receive some test results, I arrived on time and when I hadn’t been called 40 minutes I asked how much longer it would be and was told that there were still 5 people ahead of me… FIVE!!! How many appointments do you schedule at the same time?! I walked out. I rescheduled for the first appointment of the day… a month later… the first one that was available (I guess a lot of people arrive at the same idea after a couple of visits). I arrived on time and waited in the waiting room for almost an hour — how are you running late when I’m your first appointment of the day?! I was then shown to the patient waiting room and told he would be right with me — another 25 minutes passed and when I asked when he would be with me I was told told he’d be right in. I waited another 10 minutes, asked for my copayment back and walked out. I called later and explained that I’d now been there twice for my test results and explained that I cannot take 3+ hours off of work for a doctor’s appointment and asked if Dr. Li could just call with my results — guess what? No call! OK, now months have passed and I really need those test results — I’m not getting any better and still don’t even know what’s wrong! Thankfully it’s not fatal or I’d be dead by now!!! So I reschedule again… for today (a day I was going to take for vacation, but really need those results). I’m scheduled for the first appointment after they return from lunch, I arrive early, the waiting room is empty, I breathe a sigh of relief — FINALLY I’m going to be the first patient seen… HE ISN’T EVEN THERE!!! You have got to be kidding me!!! Really?! I’m done — I don’t care how good of a doctor you are, your total disregard for people’s time… umm, who pay your salary by the way, is just unacceptable. I walked out — after calming down I went back in and explained that this is my third time taking time off of work to come in for test results that I still don’t have, I explained that I would not be coming back and that I would be expecting a call from Dr. Li… took a deep breath and then said again in a very calm voice, well as calm as I could manage, that I know it’s not her fault, but that I would really appreciate it if she would please tell Dr. Li that I am pissed, I will not be returning and that I WILL BE EXPECTING A PHONE CALL! I’ve already requested a referral to another ENT. Now I have to travel all the way to Castro Valley when Dr. Li’s office conveniently located between my home and my office. So sad, I’ve been seeing Dr. Li for many years and am really not looking forward to starting from scratch with a new doctor, but as a singer I cannot mess with an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist that doen’t give a s — . Good bye Dr. Li — it’s been nice knowing you!

Total wait time in the office was at least of 70 (seventy) minutes before Dr. Li came to see us.
We had arrived at the office 10 minutes early for a follow-​up appointment. We waited for some time before we were brought to the examination room.
While waiting in the exam room, we learned that one of the reports was missing, and the office would contact NorCal Imaging. The time was about 5:15 pm, our appointment was scheduled for 4:20 pm. We did not understand why the office did not realize the missing report until almost an hour after the patient’s scheduled time. We continued to wait in the exam room.
After a little while, a different employee came into the room for a quick chore. She apologized about the computer system being down. We were concerned for the need to reschedule another time for the test results.
Finally, Dr. Li showed up and confirmed his initial diagnosis that nothing remarkable would show up in the CT scan/​MRI imaging. He advised another office visit in two months, then one more in six months. The doctor was personable; he told us what we needed/​wanted to hear. Meeting and chatting with Dr. Li took about 5 minutes; our entire visit took up more than seventy-​five.

Dr. Li may be competent, but his office is so disorganized and sloppy, I wouldn’t know. After waiting way beyond my appointment time, I got a quick 5 minutes with the Dr., then sent for a hearing test. Then the Dr. for another 10 minutes, all the time trying to navigate his less than friendly staff.
He suggested a scan, but I wanted to do my research 1^st. The staff said they’d get the authorization anyway, but after 2 weeks, they hadn’t (said I had refused). That could have just been a miscommunication, so OK, go ahead and schedule it. Two more weeks, and they say my insurance hasn’t authorized it yet, but when I call, they say they never heard from the dr.‘s office. This went on for another week or so. Finally, I had my ins. co call them while I listened. No apologies, just excuses. I’m back shopping for a new ENT at this point. A physician is only as good as his worst assistant.

If you don’t care about a doctor’s skiils but want one whose waiting room is furnished out with Waterford crystal chandelliers and a complimentary wet bar, Doctor Li might not be for you. If you are of the mindset that the results of a surgery last far longer than the waiting room experience, then read on.
I was referred to Doctor Li because of a tumor on the right half of my thyroid gland. He did a perfect job of explaining what was happening, how it could be managed, and the min and max of the various paths of treatment. In the end, he gave me a lot of information, but in a way that I could asimilate, allowing me to make the best decision. I probably asked some dumb questions that more than anything likely revealed that I had spent a dozen hours googling it all, but he was absolutely patient with me and provided the most helpful answers.
Just as important as the consultations is Doctor Li’s job in the operating room. I had read enough to know what to expect, and as I was wheeled in to the operating room, Doctor Li’s demeanor and confidence was genuine and comforting. The surgery must have been textbook because the result met or exceeded the best that I had read on the internet. There couldn’t have been less trauma from a partial thyroidectomy. If there was any area in which Doctor Li was not one hundred percent accurate, it was that my healing was faster and better than the best case scenario that had been presented to me. (I exercise a lot, and having good circulation really helps.)
The bottom line is that the result of the surgery exceeded my hopes and expectations. I just don’t ever need to think about it! If I had to do it all over again, I would do exactly the same thing. For those who are concerned about his waiting room, bring something to read (unless you don’t mind reading People magazine from three months ago). You’ll be fine. Yes, they do sometimes run late, but on the plus side, they managed to deal with my insurance company better than any other medical service provider.

Yes it’s true the waiting is terrible at this office but Dr Li is very good and a great guy all around. Much better then other ENT’s I have seen in the area.

My physical doctor referred me to Dr. Li. It was the worse experience ever. The office is very ghetto. They have a sliding glass window at the front desk, after the receptionist done talking to you, she closed the window like if we were in jail. I waited for almost 2 hrs and finally they me called in. They left me in the doctor’s office for another 45 minutes and the doctor was not ready to see me. So i asked the assistants if i was going to be next, they told me that they had no idea. OMG, almost 3 hrs??? I just walked out… Please DON’T GO THERE EVER.