I could barely wait to get home to write this review.
I slept in my contacts last Monday night, as I often do because I am admittedly very lazy about removing my contacts before sleeping. Tuesday morning my left eye was irritated, so I took my contact out and felt excruciating pain the moment my eyelid touched my eye (my contacts had been serving as a band-aids, masking the physical pain of an infection.) I could only find relief by pulling my eyelid away from my eye. Disgusting.
I've been using America's Best on Howell Mill for the past three years and was unhappy each time I went, yet kept wasting my time and money by returning. More laziness. There was no way I'd go there when having an actual eye problem, so I turned to Yelp and found Ansley Eye Care. I'm in love.
-Called on Tuesday, got an appointment for today (Friday). Able to get an appointment quickly: yay.
-Lady who scheduled my appointment was extremely friendly and knowledgeable. Customer service: yay.
-Arrived about 15 minutes early for my appointment today in anticipation of new patient paperwork. I completed the paperwork and looked around at their nice selection of frames. I really appreciated that they were all on display in a way that you can pick up and try on anything you want. I have a problem with establishments that lock expensive frames in cases because they do not trust their customers and/or want to force a salesperson to accompany the customer. Ansley's set up provides for pressure-free browsing, but knowledgeable staff available if you want their help: yay.
-My appointment was for noon, but the staff let me know it would be 10 or 15 minutes before they would be ready to take me back. I work in the healthcare profession and understand the complexities of scheduling, so I didn't even bat an eyelash. Instead, I was grateful for the head's up because that gave me a couple of minutes to walk around Ansley Mall, purchase vitamins and grab a bite to eat. Customer service candor: yay.
-When I returned, I was taken back and a tech read the prescription on the current glasses I am wearing, then tested my eyes with two different machines. I opted to pay the $25 to have the Fundus photo taken, rather than having dilation. I loathe having my eyes dilated, so the price was worth it to me, plus I really wanted to see photos of the backs of my eyeballs. Totally cool. Side note: because my visit ended up being medical, rather than a routine exam, I ended up not having to pay the extra $25, as it was all billed to my medical insurance. While regular vision insurance does not cover the Fundus photo + interpretation, my medical insurance apparently does. Also, I JUST had an eye exam in December 2010 at America's Best and they did not have this technology. So, advanced technology: yay.
-After these tests, I went into Dr. Gupta's office where she joined me shortly after. She asked me to call her Reena, but I'm weird about that. I feel that doctors have earned it to be recognized as doctors, but I truly appreciate how humble she is about it. She is totally cute, very friendly, VERY knowledgeable, and spent a great deal of time with me (which also should help people feel less stressed when having to wait to be seen; the level of personal attention is incredible.) I also learned during my time with her that they only schedule 1 patient per half hour. Coming from the eye-factory that is America's Best, I appreciate that a lot. So, incredible doctor who makes it a priority to provide lots of individual attention: yay.
I'm beyond 5 stars by now, but you get the point. I had an incredible experience from my first phone call to the check-out process.
Lastly, Dr. Gupta has a cute little baby bump, so she'll be going on temporary maternity leave at some point in the future. She talked to me a lot about the other lady doctor who she promises will take great care of her patients in the meantime. read more