Kirk Scott H, MD

I actually found Dr Kent Kirk at
, but the 5 star reviews on Unilocal were very helpful. I found my vision getting cloudy and felt that I needed my eyes checked. I needed cataract surgery and Dr Kent Kirk performed that for me yesterday. The procedure took about 15 minutes and I felt no pain during the entire procedure. I had zero side effects: no inflammation, no infection, no swelling, no bleeding, no glaucoma or retinal problems. As I write today online, I can read the computer screen better now than with my glasses. At my followup visit today Dr Kent Kirk told me that everything was so successful that I could start driving again. No restrictions. I couldn’t be more pleased. Dr Kent Kirk is the «Michael Jordan» of ophthalmologists. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Kirk Eye center have ben my doctors for 20 years and I highly recommend them.

I have had multiple surgeries and procedures done at the Kirk Eye Center over a 30 year time frame. I’ve never had a bad experience with either Scott or Kent Kirk. They are both very skilled doctors who care deeply about their patients. I trust the Kirks with my own children who also have never had a bad experience. This is understandably a busy practice so plan ahead and make your appointment in advance if possible. Although even in emergency situations we’ve had a good experience.

I recently went in to see if I could get Lasik. I had perfect vision growing up and with age, I noticed my vision getting worse (Presbyopia). First cheaters in my 40s and then monovision and then bifocal contacts and glasses. Then I node my general vision was also declining. At age 58, this was not how I wanted to continue.
After an extensive exam, Dr. Kirk advised me that I wasn’t a «good candidate for Lasik» as he noted an early onset of cataracts. It was not immediately noticeable and there was no cloudiness. Dr. Kirk told me the first clue, which resulted in a much more detailed exam was that my prescription changed a full 2 diopters in one year and that was a sign of possible cataracts. A less detailed exam might not have picked this up until they were more developed. My vision would only continue to get worse and undo the good of the Laisik. While the cataracts would not become an issue for perhaps 15 years, I would need to stay in glasses or contacts and have worsening vision each year.
The proposed long-​term solution would be to have cataract surgery and then have bifocal lenses implanted. Considered elective surgery, it was costlier than Lasik, but it was a «lifetime» solution, meaning my vision would never worsen after the surgery.
After independent research, I agreed and have had both eyes repaired. I had the «Restore» IOLs implanted. Their staff are all very helpful and I had all of my concerns addressed. They did not make promises of perfect vision, only that I would see an great improvement. This type of procedure also meant I would never develop cataracts.
The eyes were done one at a time, two weeks apart. The procedures were totally pain free. I did decline any sedation, as I wanted to fully understand what was happening. There was no need for it. The doctors (Scott for the first and Kent for the second) both made sure I understood everything that was going on. The follow up care was excellent.
The best way to describe the results are miraculous! I now have ²⁰⁄₂₀ vision in both eyes and am totally free of any additional eyewear (including cheaters). I also noticed that I no longer saw «floaters» which I had begun to see over the past year. I have crystal clear vision and good not be happier.

My daughter had a great visit a few years ago with the elder Dr. Kirk, but my visit today has prompted me to never make another appointment there again. I was scheduled for a (sun)glasses check (they made my vision distorted and I became dizzy every time I attempted to wear them). I saw Tyler Kirk, who was, at the very least, rude and unprofessional. He began his diagnosis of how the problem was with me not wearing them frequently enough (despite the nausea) and not an error with the prescription. He actually became combative with me, insisting I was at fault for not wearing them for longer periods of time. Was I supposed to fight through the nausea and dizziness for hours at a time? Isn’t that a clear sign that something is wrong? I’ve had glasses before, and this is not a normal transition. When I called him out on his unprofessional and rude behavior he somehow figured that insulting me would be a great way to rectify the situation. I was so shaken and upset I couldn’t get the right words out to tell him how offended I was and I ended up using incorrect terms, which of course HE USED TO MOCK ME. Clearly, he considered me a simple-​minded twit and thought I wouldn’t detect his passive-​aggressive undertone. I was near tears and wanted to run out of the place. I felt humiliated and embarrassed. But I spent $ 140 on the glasses so I wanted to get them corrected. I had no choice but to endure his pompous and pretentious demeanor for yet another exam. If you cant trust your own doctor to be kind and professional, who can you trust?

I had LASIK surgery in March and I was so impressed with the staff, the efficiency, the professionalism. a five star rating even before the five star rating for now having perfect vision! I would trust my eyes to no one else!!!

I’ve been going to Dr. Bauer for years. He’s fantastic. The folks who answer the phone however have their own agenda, they just talk right over you. I ordered glasses from the optical department and they were completely wrong. Very disappointing. Never again.

I had LASIK surgery done here and it was great. The staff and Dr Kirk made sure that the procedure went smooth. I can’t even remember when I could see this clearly in my life and I love it! I would recommend the Kirk Eye Center to anyone in the similar situation.

Today was my 1 year follow up from LASIK eye surgery and I tell everyone — BEST decision of my life thanks to Kirk Eye Center. I have been going to Kirk Eye center for almost 10 + years. I did my research on other facilities, but when it came down to my final decision, I knew that I was going to be in great hands with Dr. Kirk. The staff is extremely helpful and Dr. Kirk was amazing. Yes, there are RISKS in every surgery, but it is the patients responsibility to make sure you are asking the right questions and to do research before the procedure. Dr. Kirk explained everything from start to finish and answered all my additional questions. Yes, the surgery might cost more than other facilities, but do you always go with the cheapest option when it comes to your health? This is a family owned business and they truly care about their patients. It is unfortunate to see negative reviews (Could be Spam) but I am speaking the truth and can once again say «Thank you» for giving back my vision!

Similar to other reviewers here, my wife and I WERE patients here for over a decade. In the end we decided to see another ophthalmologist when the staff at Kirk grew increasing more surly and when we were repeatedly subjected to «bait and switch» tactics regarding which specific physician we were scheduled to see. Understandably this is a busy practice, and emergencies and random events do happen, but after years of seeing one doctor (who we were both comfortable with) to then on multiple occasions show up for scheduled appointments NOT to be informed of the fact that Dr. S. would be unavailable mind you, we were simply prepped and dumped in a room where Dr. K. would appear and would not even acknowledge the switch. When asked, he would always have a dismissive answer as though we were out of line for questioning the switch… this to me, is wholly unacceptable.
Going beyond the unacceptable and approaching the unconscionable is the way Dr. K. addressed me as a patient when he would persistently try to «sell me» on the idea of Lasik. At my last appointment going so far as to instruct me to «start saving my pennies» when I told him I wasn’t interested in Lasik surgery. Mind you I never indicated that I could not afford the surgery or that the cost was prohibitive, I simply said I «wasn’t interested in having an elective eye surgery.»
Save yourself the aggravation and find another ophthalmology group, there are several groups in the Chicago area, full of skilled, competent, and respectful clinicians and staff… sadly Kirk is no longer one of them.

Kirk eye is a 5 star facility. My husband suffered an eye injury (climbing a tree… he is 53 by the way) Dr kirk saw him at 6 am, treated him, was un-​rushed, comfortable, professional. Dan was treated daily for 2 weeks & we could not have asked for more caring service. Currently my Mom has had both cataracts done, and I can say with certainty that Kirk eye centers are the very best in the area. Thank You Dr Kirk, and your entire staff.

Never again.
My family brought me here by default when I was growing up because it was so close to where we lived in River Forest. It’s family-​owed and operated. I’ve never had a problem until now, and the problem is inexcusable; in my estimation, it’s unforgivable.
I’ve called AT LEAST a half a dozen times to schedule an appointment. I was told on each of these occasions that they were with a client and that I would be receiving a call back. The calls never came. I came to learn that, despite any and all promises of correspondence, no calls are allowed in or out after their closing times, which fluctuate daily.
The lack of courtesy and attention to me, a customer of theirs for 15 years, tells me that they could care less if I continued with them. I’m fine with not going here because they are at least 15 — 20% more expensive than other places like Pearle, Lenscrafters and Costco.
I would highly encourage people to go elsewhere, as Kirk has given me the strongest impression that it has gotten lazy and takes its customers for granted.
Disappointed doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel.

My spouse and I have had excellent outcomes with the professional staff and a special thanks to Dr. Kent Kirk.

They generally suck. The equipment is expensive and shiny, but the doctors are not. They screwed up my glasses prescriptions and messed up with the insurance. When I brought my daughter to complain about her soar eyes, they coded it as a check-​up visit so that my insurance did not cover it.

I had lens replacement done at Kirk Eye Center. It was amazing and I am so very glad I had it done and done by Kent Kirk. Dr. Kirk went over everything with me in detail, he was never pushy only gave me information, answered all of my questions and then let me decide. When I went in for the procedure everyone was very nice. They explained everything they were doing and answered all my questions. This did a lot to calm me. Before knew it the procedure was over and I could already see better than when I first went in. It was wonderful! I had the multi-​focal lens replacement which means I don’t even need to wear readers! I have been delighted with the out come ever since.
Kirk Eye Center has been our family’s eye place for many years, besides the yearly exams they also did my son’s laser eye surgery and I can’t even tell you how wonderful that was. Their patience and professionalism is great. I wouldn’t trust our eyes to anyone else.
Evelyn

ONE star is too high!
Dr. Kirk performed LASIK on my eyes and botched my right eye so badly, after two attempts and a desire to lift the corneal flap a THIRD time to remove epithelial tissue before then wanting to again perform a third enhancement, I went to a prestigious doctor for a second opinion who warned me to stay away from this mad scientist! Unfortunately, Kirk had already removed so much corneal tissue and had ablated off-​center that he had created new distortions in my eye that were not there prior to the surgery. My new doctor was very limited in what he could do to fix my eye for the third time. He did perform a PRK procedure because he refused to lift the corneal flap a third time like Dr. Quack Kirk had proposed, so after many weeks of healing, I now see a blurry ²⁰⁄₂₅.
Dr. Kirk is nothing more than an assembly line set-​up who cares nothing for his patients and has no ethical practices. He will repeatedly perform procedures when ethically, he should not. We are talking about your vision here! I am SO lucky I listened to my gut instinct and got the hell out of there before I let him touch my eye ever again!
BEWARE!
Plus, he is one of the most expensive LASIK surgical doctors out there, and he does nothing above and beyond the service and skill you can find in other places. I wish I could have saved myself the $ 5400 I spent and gone to my wonderful doctor who saved my vision in the first place!
Do your research… get referrals… check AMA and other places before you trust anyone with your important sense of vision, which these guys so carelessly take for granted!

I had a mixed appointment here. I experience an ocular migraine and had no idea what it was (wavy vision out of nowhere, very scary). My doc referred me to Kirk Eye Center. Overall, I had a decent experience. The nurses/​office people were very nice.
During my time with one of the Dr. Kirks (there’s three and I honestly am not sure which one I saw) I asked how I would know I was having another ocular migraine and not something much more serious – like a stroke (pertinent because of my family’s history of having strokes and dying).
Dr. Kirk said something like, «Well, you’d also be speaking gibberish…» (I read up online later and the symptoms between the two are very, very similar). And I nodded, not entirely comfortable. Then Dr. Kirk turned to my husband and said, «Oh but how would you know since *they* all speak gibberish!» «They» meaning us dumbass women, I guess!
I try to be polite about dumb misogynistic jokes but given I had just been expressing something important and scary – AND I AM THE PATIENT – for him to turn around and insult me and all women I was just not amused. Also? I’m just TIRED of men insulting me to ingratiate themselves to my husband! (I eventually tried to explain this point to the doctor but he was not interested in hearing it).
Anyway, my husband mentioned it to the doctor as we were leaving – we only mentioned it because the nurse told us we should let the doc know how we were feeling – and the doctor was not only NOT in any way apologetic but he basically made it seem like we were being unreasonable for even mentioning his joke was in poor form.
I paid, told him how I felt, he never really apologized and I left.
I knew I was right to confront him when a couple of different nurses/​office workers apologized to me profusely. I can’t imagine what it must be like to work for a guy that thinks misogyny is so hilarious. My sympathies to the ladies in his office!
Two stars because everybody but Dr. Kirk was nice and everybody was efficient.
edited to add: I also disliked their check-​in service. You have to stand at an airport-​like kiosk and type in all of your information. I’m tired of self-​service everything!

I saw the one star review and feel I need to do what I can to wipe out what that one unfortunate phone call is doing to the Kirk Eye Center’s rating.
Eight years ago I had my «legally blind» classified vision repaired with the help of Dr. Kirk and his lasik surgery.
The surgery was quick and the Valium they give you before is helpful in calming your nerves. We’re talking about your eyes here, lasers on your eyes. You’re awake and you can smell the burning. So yea… take the Valium.
As soon as you’re done you sit up and can see. It’s absofuckinglutely amazing. You pick up some pain meds at the pharmacy on the way home and then sleep with goggles on until the eyes heal themselves beyond the pain.
I, though, woke up only a few hours after my surgery in unbearable pain. I found my husband and had him call Dr. Kirk on his cell phone. It was 11:00 PM., he would have to pick up the medication from his office and meet us. I lived in Roger’s Park then, the Doctor was at a fund raiser in Hyde Park, my magic eye drops were in Forest Park. We met on Columbus Drive. Dr. Kirk was in his tuxedo and asked to have the pleasure of administering my drops; they worked immediately.
«My hero,» I said. My husband sighed a big sigh and then off went my knight in his BMW back to his fundraiser.
He called the next day to see how I was doing even before I came in for my appointment.
This kind of care and attention is why I highly recommend the place. The Center is named for this man and his brother, it is their care and skill that I’m rating.

I was told on the phone they take my vision insurance. When I get to my appointment, they look at the card and say… oh, we don’t take your plan (meaning they do take some levels of my vision insurance but not the one I have). Should have cleared that up on the phone maybe? thanks for wasting my time, now I have to wait 3 weeks to get in somewhere else.

If you need your eyes checked out, I would definitely go here. The people are nice and your appointment generally starts on time. The doctors are very good and know what they are doing. Th exam is also usually fast, yet very thorough. As a testimonial to how good this place is, people from far aways suburbs come here. in fact, when i last went, one guy was in town from another state and thought that as long as he is in town, he should come here since he was here a long time ago.
Don’t get me wrong though, while the cost of the exam is cheap, the glasses and contact lenses will cost more here than at Lens Crafters. But the doctors always know what they are doing.