Doctor Spencer has completed 3 eye muscle surgeries for my strabismus. Although she specializes in pediatric ophthalmology, she completed my third surgery as an adult. She was fantastic all three times. You would never guess that I had strabismus. It can take a while to get an appointment, but I don't mind the wait for a specialist. I understand that with specialties it can take longer to get an appointment.

Submitted June 13, 2018

I wish I had read reviews before seeing this doctor after my son saw her in the NICU, but due to her monopoly on pediatric eye doctors in the area she was our only choice. And we sure had to WAIT for It! Over a month to get an appointment and then over 45 minutes in the waiting room. During the appointment after a lot more waiting I brought it to the attention of a nurse that my husband and I needed to get back to work soon. After that they made a little more effort to move things along, but by then it didn't matter, we had already spent so long there. I made a point to mention it to the gal behind the desk as we checked out and she chastised me for bringing it up. We literally only needed 1 hour for what was done for my son but it took twice as long. I called the office manager just now to speak with her about it and she was rude and made every excuse in the book as to why things take so long, blaming other patients and no shows. Every other doctor office we see has a grace period of about 10 minutes for you to be on time before you have to reschedule another appointment for being late. Not Dr Spencer! Be prepared to wait for anyone else who is late even if you are on time! The office manager, Kathy, said they would make no effort to change anything they do and basically told me to go elsewhere. I said my expectation is to be seen at my appointment time and for the doctor to be prompt during my visit. My suggestion was if other people are late make them reschedule, just like every other doctor in town. If people no show and have no good reason, give them 2 chances and then consider charging for the appointment or dropping them as a patient. Run the business, be considerate of peoples' time and do your job. That's what I have to do at work everyday, and seeing the doctor should be no different. Don't waste your time here. Drive to another doctor that actually cares.

Submitted May 24, 2017

All of my children have been patients of Dr. Spencer. We have been with her for over 21 years, since she first started practicing in West Des Moines. She has performed eye muscle surgery on two of my kids with fantastic results. I now have a three year old with Down Syndrome. Dr. Spencer's depth of knowledge concerning pediatric eye issues is unsurpassed. The front desk ladies are kind, her exam assistants have so much patience, and the optician is great! The only drawback is the wait time for appointments. It is unfortunate that not many medical school students are choosing to specialize in pediatric ophthalmology. Dr. Spencer could use an additional physician or two to ease the patient load. I HIGHLY recommend her.

Submitted July 8, 2015

If you have children with special needs, do not go here. Get yourself an appointment with the U of I and skip over this place. We have never even gotten to meet Dr. Spencer. When we were referred to her we were told she was much too busy to see him and gave us to a colleague, Dr. Condit who we loved. Only, after just two follow ups he was leaving the practice and we moved on to Dr. Suh who in turn also left for out of state. Being the literal Only other Pediatric Opthamalogist we made an appt with Dr. Spencer. My son fell ill again and was hospitalized and we missed an appointment. When I called to reschedule the Office Manager chastised me about "failing to appear for our appointment" and seemed to care less that he was IN the hospital after 911 call and ambulance ride. The fact they were inconvenienced was more of a concern than my son. Perhaps if they have an issue with no-shows than they should send out letters and/or reminder calls just like every other doctor and specialist in the city.

Today, we had an opportunity to get into an Outreach Clinic at a special needs provider where my son's OT, ST, PT and Feeding Therapy are. I needed to take his records with to said appointment. I called Wolfe Eye Clinic and no problem... They faxed the records over with a verbal agreement (one time only) as I had explained that he'd been having seizures and its a 45 minute drive (one way) to come sign a release. I called here again hoping to have the same level of compassion and once again I spoke to the Office Manager who refused to help, interrupted when I tried explaining what was going on and told me "he is being treated here. Its your prerogative to go there but WE have been following him". #1) she hadn't even asked his name #2) we hadn't been there since 2013 and #3) we DID have an appointment with Dr. Spencer in two months that before this conversation we had intended on keeping. I tried explaining that I live in a rural community and had no access to fax or printer and tried to ask if I could email her an authorization but instead she cut me off with a "well this is a long run around, but go ahead...." So I informed her that she could go ahead and cancel my sons appointment and let her know she was being rude.

The front office is the first taste you have of a doctors office. With an Office Manager so mean, condescending, rude and uncompassionate, I am shocked the front desk gals are so sweet and enduring. It is unfortunate that one person can ruin an entire practice but she has shown not once but twice that the actual issues their patients face mean zero to them outside that door. To chastise someone for missing an appointment because their child was IN the hospital after a medical emergency and then refuse to help when I wanted to get my son into a Vision Therapist was just cruel. I had to spend two extra hours in the car today because this Office Manager refused to help in a situation in which time was of the essence.

Its not about competition. It should be about getting the best level of care for ALL people. The specialist we went to see had zero to do with what Dr. Spencer does but for some reason her Office Manager chose to be nasty and her boss has now lost a patient and I will be sure to let all my other special needs moms know how we were treated. Absolutely dispicable.
We will now be traveling to the U of I to see a Neuropthamalogist instead and we will never come back to this office.

Submitted March 13, 2015