Dr. Cheryl Barbara Kraff-Cooper, MD

This was my first time going to Kraff Eye Institute. Staff, in particular the eye technician who assisted me before seeing Dr. Kraff-Cooper, was very nice. That's the only reason I'm giving Kraff Eye Institute 4 stars. It's all about the staff, and based on my experience with them, they deserve the accolades. Dr. Kraff-Cooper was meh at best. She didn't introduce herself to me, which was odd, but I eventually figured it out. She was very rushed and got visibly irritated when I had to readjust the way I was situated in the chair before doing whatever exam she performed. Her bedside manner is horrible; she's probably overworked as the practice was packed with patients and kinda had a "factory farm" vibe ala get 'em in and get 'em out, but that's not my problem, that's her problem. I'm probably not going back to Kraff -- I don't think they will care one way or another, anyway -- and if I do, it'll only be because the staff makes the experience the type of experience a patient wants to… have. Oh, and I'll ask to see a different doctor. If I don't go back, there are plenty of other eye doctors in Chicago! I have a year to figure it out! :)

Dr. Kraff-Cooper's treatment has helped my bothersome eye issues quite a bit, but I'm less than thrilled about her bedside manner, her limited availability, and the ratio of waiting room time vs. quality doctor time. The standard operating procedure seems to be that two patients are called in from the waiting room at roughly the same time, then made to wait in exam rooms while Dr. Kraff-Cooper flits back and forth between them. She is all business, and I've found that I have to turn up the assertiveness if I have questions or conerns that need to be addressed. Expect to feel rushed. Additionally, she seems to have limited office hours, which means I have to take time off of work for appointments. This wouldn't be a huge problem if 95% of my time weren't spent waiting 45 minutes or more for what ends up being a 5 to 10-minute appointment. (I'm lucky that my boss is patient. It's embarassing to have to email an update to say that you don't have any idea when you'll be back to work… because it's already 45 minutes past your scheduled appointment time). Although I appreciate the symptom relief I'm enjoying from Dr. Kraff-Cooper, I cannot afford to take two hours out of my work day for every follow-up appointment. So I just cancelled my next appointment - after waiting on hold for 18 minutes to speak with someone.