Wu Shi Hua, MD

I’ve been going to Dr. Wu for acupuncture for my severe allergies for about six months. I have noticed a marked improvement in my condition and no longer rely on allergy medication.
Dr. Wu is knowledgeable, caring, and has a great sense of humor. There is a slight language barrier but nothing we can’t get past by repeating ourselves several times. His office has been spruced up by his acupuncturist son and continues to improve. It is not the fanciest space (it is part of his humble home) and might turn you off if you’re looking for a bright, sterile doctor’s office. The only reason I’m not giving 5 stars is because I think he has a little ways to go in freshening up the office.
It is, however, very convenient to downtown and he is very flexible with appointment times (he works 7 days a week) and has always been able to accomodate my schedule.
It is cash or check only and the average cost for regular patients is $ 95 per session.

My friend and I decided to try out acupuncture since we’d never done it before. We chose Dr. Wu because he has been documented in USA Today, The Washington Post, and other prominent periodicals. He came to the US a little more than a decade ago, but has been practicing acupuncture since before I was born. How do I know all this? The minute we walked in, he forced us to sit down and read two folders full of clippings that lauded him as a doctor. That’s fine but we already had appointments, so he didn’t need to advertise. He did a «consultation,» which entails him hooking me up to a computer program that tells him precisely how and where my qi flow is screwed up. He presses on my liver and tells me it is inflamed. I act intrigued and clueless, but I know it’s because I had an exciting night on the town not 12 hours before.
The «office» is a hallway and some old white stalls, or rooms, that bring me back to my days in communist labor camps. OK, I’ve never been to a communist labor camp, but the acupuncture rooms look very foreboding. Dr. Wu instructs me to strip off my clothes, which is fine with me since I’m used to being naked in front of strangers. He starts on my neck and back, and I can barely feel the needles entering my body. He completes my whole body and tells me not to move, and then he exits the room. I moved. Suddenly my whole leg went completely numb, like when a limb falls asleep. After a few minutes, it returned to normal and I could stop biting my lip.
The whole experience was very interesting for my first time, but there is one major downside: he charged $ 275. On top of that, the consultation ended up costing more money, and on top of that, he tried to sell me some Chinese herbs at $ 20 a pop. No thanks to the herbs. Dr. Wu wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t a phenomenal Chinese magician, able to balance me into a state of nirvana either. I probably won’t get acupuncture again because I didn’t really feel any different afterward.