Steven Machtinger, MD

A bout of the allergies took me to Dr. Machtinger’s office the other day, for a relatively painless appointment. My (minor) gripes of my visit were that I waited 30+ minutes to be seen after being put in one of the patient rooms, and that they do not offer parking validation.
That being said, Dr. Machtinger is definitely a busy man, and as the patient doors are paper-​thin, it wasn’t hard to hear him hard at work with another young patient while I was waiting. Maybe the front office over-​books him on purpose? He is fantastic though, very knowledgeable of his subject matter, warm, kind, and professional. He seems to be quite good with children, as well.
I’m glad I don’t have any health issues that require additional visits, but it is good to know I would be in good hands with Dr. Machtinger if I did.

I was referred to Dr. Machtinger by my neurologist for increasing asthma related issues. I’m an adult patient who finds both his office staff as well as Dr. Machtinger have just the right amount of concern and response to my phone calls and questions — even if I feel my symptoms might be trivial. They’ve been careful educated listeners each time I’ve had to call in — sometimes insisting on a quick appointment and other times offering advice. In either case, I’ve grown to trust and respect how they help me learn to manage what this relatively new and not so nice disease called asthma is all about. I have no doubt they will keep me out of serious harm if I follow their directions and he really goes the extra mile to explain as much as I want to know. And a real plus is that the office runs smoothly and waits have always been short for me.

We were referred to Dr. Machtinger from our pediatrician. I could not make the appt and so my husband took our son. Our son felt completely comfortable with Dr. Machtinger and Dr. M explained everything very thoroughly and patiently to my husband and reassured him. And then, moments after my husband and son departed, Dr. Machtinger took the time to call my cell and update me on everything so that I too, could rest easy. I have never had a doctor, let alone one I have never even met, take the time out of his busy schedule to call and share the full low down after he just conducted a full appointment. He went above and beyond and we are so appreciative. I will recommend Dr. Machtinger to all of my friends and family. What a great experience.

Very thorough and extremely engaged with both parent and child, in this case the wary patient. On time for our appointment, easy to find a convenient time for our followup.

I can’t comment on Dr. Machtinger’s practice with children, but for an adult I find him great! I’m 46 years old and I’ve always suffered from asthma and allergies. I started seeing Dr. Machtinger when I moved to the bay area in the early 90s. Dr. Machtinger has helped keep both conditions under control. Like some other reviewers mentioned, I like that he explains *everything* to me. Often more than I can understand — but it’s fun learning how the drugs work to counteract my body’s hay-​wire reaction allergens and exercise.
The office and nursing staff are friendly and most have been with him for many years, so he and his partners must be good to work for. And easy parking. The building is a bit confusing, so make sure you take the right elevator!
P. S. He just moved down the hall. New office suite 707, next door to the old suite.

Great physician who listened story of my child’s symptoms of eczemz around her eyes. She had been suffering starting age 1 and it was progressively getting worse, we had previously taken her to a pediatric allergist in Burlingame at age 1 and then at 2, but it was always the same results, mildly allergic to peanuts, given creams for her eyes, but nothing ever worked. Finally, asked my pediatrician for another referral when she was 5. Well, I am so glad we saw him because he «cured» her. He listened to our situation, broke the vicious itch-​scratch cycle we were in. He definitely listened and explained how to maintain it so we could be allergy free. I am glad to say that it has been almost 2 years since my daughter has seen him!

My 8yr old son was referred to Dr. Machtinger after two adverse reactions to flu shots 2 out of the last 4 injections he’s received, and also chronic rhinitis that was causing him to wake up coughing at 5am frequently due to post nasal drip. He did some skin allergy testings, asthma testing, and for the adverse reactions to flu shots, «we should look at the vaccine lot information,» and asked us to schedule a follow up appointment.
Follow up appointment (and another specialist copay), all we were told were, «He has no asthma (we knew this!) so just use flonase» and «come back for the flu shot next fall.» We needed a special appointment for this?!
The issue is, we have been using Flonase for over a year with no improvement and that is why our pediatrician referred us to Dr. Machtinger. When I inquired about the vaccine lot information and whether he had found any common denominators on why he reacted badly to the 2 while not on the others, he just looked blankly at me and never answered the query or make any effort to follow up on it. Subsequent calls to the dr office to find out what he found out about the vaccine lots, I got nowhere.
So after two visits to him, we have absolutely no new information as to how to deal with his allergic reaction issues, nor any insight into what may be happening.
Useless. waste of time and money. Dr. Machtinger appears to just be content doing the standard testing and if nothing shows, makes no effort to try to find the root cause of the problems, nor bothers to understand or even conprehend the reason why we went to the allergy specialist was to find alternative to the current medication that is not working (and he didn’t care if he just said, «carry on with current even if it’s not working.»)
Not impressed. He gets 2 stars for clean office and friendly demeanor.
there are better allergists out there.

DRugs, drugs, and higher doses of drugs — seem to be the game plan. I have 3 kids with different allergy symptoms: exzema, congestion, & heart burn — turns out they are all allergic/​intolerant of gluten — but when I suggested to him that we test for this after a 2 week trial of gluten free with improvement in all three kids — his answer was: prevacid for the heart burn instead of taking out gluten. Allergy shots for congestion etc… Masking the allergens symptoms is not the way to go.

My child had been seeing Dr. Machtinger for 8 years now. He is very comfortable with him and the doctor is patient in explaining why certain allergy and asthma meds are needed. His office is very responsive when meds have run out. Bonnie at the front desk is the best!

Yikes, what horrible service! There receptionist Marina is rude and confrontational. If it was not for my kid’s appointment I would have just walked out based on her impoliteness. Now in retrospect I wish I had walked out because the visit with the doctor was a mistake.
Dr. Machtinger is not good with kids. I took my kid to see this doctor based on the previous reviews and we made a mistake. I wish I had found a doctor that was gentle. For example, my son is quiet articulate and when doctor was examining him my son got scared. Dr’s response was, «you talk so much and when I touch you, you act like a baby». He also scolded my kid for interrupting him rather than being compassionate towards an anxious child.

I HIGHLY recommend this office, and have referred friends here. Machtinger has a great «bedside manner», talks well to kids, and gives you his undivided attention during your appointment in an unrushed manner. He gets connections with nutrition and treating things from the inside out, not just topically.
I found him when I had an infant covered in eczema and suffering. I made several calls and nobody would skin test her. He readily did, we discovered 3 food allergies, and I changed my nursing and her feeding diets and she cleared right up. (Eggs, beef, soy — I could never have guessed these!)
We still go to him for asthma, eczema, psoriasis, and food allergy concerns when something «new» crops up.

Dr. Machtinger was amazing and i completely disagree with every other negative review below. I came there thinking I had a possible gluten allergy and left knowing so much more about myself.
The only drawback would be that he doesn’t have a allergy testing facility on site.
He definitely analyzes all aspects of your health, not just focusing on things relating to allergies. I trust him over my Internist!
Dr. Matchinger is a great doctor and very personable. I would recommend him to anyone.

My son was referred to Dr Machtinger by his pediatrician. He was 2.5 y.o. by that time and had bunch of different allergies + asthma.
We loved working with the Doctor. He was very attentive to details. Always informative and very careful on a test results. I liked that he was trying to hold a conversation with my little one :) also, after each test he was explaining us every bit of everything.
To bad we had to move to Los Angeles.
I would definitely recommend him.

I really hate giving bad reviews, but I have to call it how I see it so that others can decide what they want to do. Mind you we haven’t seen him for almost 4 years now. I felt very uncomfortable after our initial appointment with him. I have a Vietnamese last name, as my husband is Vietnamese. After reading my daughter’s chart, he had the audacity to ask if we were «boat» people. Excuse me? I couldn’t believe my ears. Luckily my husband was there to take it all in stride and correct him; They actually came by plane. *rolls eyes* If not for him, I would have given him a piece of my mind. Then he went on to say how Orange County was just full of boat people when he did his residency or the other there. Already uneasy, he did answer our questions… though in a somewhat condescending manner. I’m a parent and am an advocate for my daughter’s health and well being. Answer my million and one questions if need be!
But I couldn’t shake off that first impression of him. Another thing I questioned was that he prescribed antibiotics that day for my daughter. When we brought her in she was covered in painful scratches and welts from her food allergy induced eczema. He feared that she might catch a staph infection. In hindsight that totally seemed unnecessary. Over prescribed antibiotics has led to cases of MRSA and drug resistant bacterias and viruses. My own daughter had a case of MRSA a year later. We followed up with another allergist a year later since we moved. And compared to him, I probably would not recommend him to anybody.

I was referred to Dr. Machtinger for asthma and he was very thorough in his testing of both my asthma and allergies. He provided me with a treatment plan, but it was mostly steroids and when I had severe side effects, I went off of the drugs.
I was doing fine for a few months but then the cold came back and here I am coughing and wheezing again.
I went to see the doc and just as we had discussed previously I would come back if they symptoms worsened.
I explained the situation we decided to try different non steroidal meds. The issue is he is very sarcastic and doesn’t have any sympathy for those who don’t always respond well to the drugs or have side effects.
I tried Singulair and it didn’t work and he just asked what do you want to do next? If that’s the kind of care he provides, I can treat myself.
He also gets really annoyed when you ask how a certain medication works in your body and etc.
I am going to try seeing another asthma specialist
I think he is a good doctor, I just think his bedside manner needs a lot of improvement.

I have to disagree with the 2 reviews on Dr. M. He is a nice enough person, but I think as a doctor, especially treating young children, he certainly does not exceed my expectations.
My daughter is 21 months old, and for almost a year now she has not been able to breathe out of her nose. My pediatrician referred me to Dr. M about 5 months ago to see if allergies were the cause, since I myself have allergies/​asthma. For our first visit he prescriped a nasal spray and told me to try for a couple of weeks to see if that helped. The next day we were flying to Ireland, and were going to be there for 2 ½ weeks. While were were there, her nose did actually improve and I was excited that my daughter would finally be able to breathe more comfortably. My enthusiam diminished when we arrived back, since she now had a cold and her nose was congested from that, making the nasal spray virtually useless. Even after her cold went away, the nasal spray no longer seemed to be helping. Vist #2– We went back for more answers, this time we did skin testing and of course everything came back negative. Unfortunately, a negative reading does not always mean allergies are not present– especially for a child under 2 years old, the test is not always reliable due to their body/​system being under-​developed. He then prescribed 60 mg of Allegra once a day, and two months later with it not working, I took her back for a follow-​up appt, (yesterday) feeling even more frustrated than ever, wanting to find out what the problem is.
Not only can this doctor not figure out what is wrong with my daughter, but he is one of those doctors who rushes through the appointment, and when you have a child, no mother wants to feel rushed, like their problem is unimportant tot them. Yes, I realize he sees lots of patients and yes, I realize it takes time to diagnose conditions sometimes, but he makes no effort to ease my concern by giving any words of encouragement, etc that he will figure it out. He basically chuckles at me, like it’s no big deal! Um, hello… I’m sorry that I don’t think it’s normal that my daughter has not been able to breathe out of her nose for almost a year now! Part of being a good doctor is making the patient feel like their issues are being heard and addressed, and that every effort will be made to help them. He should get that especially since he works with kids! He sits there for most of the appointment on his blackberry looking up your info and asking you questions– he even asks the same question within a minute apart, obviously not listening to my answer the first time! So I’ve got my list of questions, etc, obviously not finished, and he’s walking out the door, holding out his hand for me to shake! No joke– I said, «I’m not done — I have a question!» So then he stand there in the doorway, with the door half-​opened talking to me– so rude!
Anyway, needless to say, I am taking my daughter to a different allergist to get a second opinion since now Dr. M is ordering an x-​ray to check her adenoids. Before doing that I want to see another doctor to see what they have to say.
Oh, and he looks like Al Pacino, but shorter.

went to see dr. machtinger after my allergies got out of control. he is very good in terms of finding what is wrong, doing the tests and explaining what he is going to do and why. i like that. i hate doctors who says they are going to run a test without telling you why and give you options first. dr. machtinger is great in wanted to give you a solution and will work hard to find the best one that fits your needs. what good is a solution if you the patient don’t want or like it? his staff is also great. always accomodating, ask if it is an emergency when you make your appointment and working with your schedule in a happy friendly manner.

Dr. Machtinger is an excellent allergist treating both children and adults. He, as well as his staff (Bonnie; his secretary and Erma; his nurse) are all kind and caring. They will answer any questions that you have in layman’s terms and explain every procedure involved in testing and examining before they do it. It has been nine years since I saw him, but still I felt compelled to give my two cents about him.
I was referred to him by my then pediatrician, Dr. Kasuga for allergy testing. He is definitely in to treating the whole person, not just the allergies or asthma. He takes time to get to know you and your interests, talking about them during your visit, mixing business with pleasure; now how is that for a personal touch. The testing which involved the standard skin pricks on the back and inter dermal injections (injections under the skin,) did not hurt that much, but itched a bit. Erma warned «Brian, do not scratch them no matter how badly they itch.» Like a trooper, I survived. The tests only revealed an allergic reaction to dust mites and a slight weed allergy. Oh,! was the Cortisone or whatever lotion they put on the test sites soothing. Another thing that I loved about him was that he let me make the call as far as my choice of treatment (medications, nasal sprays, or shots.) Naturally, I chose medications; he gave me a bunch of samples of then Claritin, Zertech, and Allegra. I ended with Clariton for a while and then did not need medication after a while. I have, however, gotten pillow covers in the last few years which have helped like a charm. The mattress cover I never needed. If I had to go on another medication, Zertech would probably be my choice the next time around.
Pardon my digression. Dr. Machtinger felt that my symptoms were so mild that he did not have to keep seeing me, leaving everything in the hands of Dr. Kasuga. Oh,! as far as the weed allergy is concerned, he was practical in saying that we just cannot stay indoors because of allergies, saying that treatment is the perfect solution. So, for excellent allergy and asthma care from a doctor and staff who are kind and caring alike, getting to know you on a personal level, Dr. Machtinger and his staff cannot be beat. Keep up the good work guys.