I come from a marketing/communications background so I have a tendency to be allergic to gimmick-y…read moreprofessionals and those who try to sell you on procedures or treatments. Dr. Renaud is as good as it gets when it comes to serious, authentic and well-informed care for your eyes. I have very poor vision and on top of that, I have very dry eyes to the point where it had impaired my vision (blurriness). In the course of one month I saw several ophthalmologists and optometrists, because my eyes were bothering me so much. Some recommended punctal plugs (on the spot!) while others did not offer much help at all. Dr. Renaud was the only eye care practitioner who was able to give me practical guidance (behavioral changes) paired with clinically sound medical care for my eyes for long-term relief. She is extremely thorough, spends time with her patients and is very hands-on. She has a type-A personality when it comes to thoroughness and has a very matter-of-fact but very thorough and caring approach with her patients. Not only that, but she herself is a dry eye sufferer and understands the plights of what the condition can do not just to one's vision or comfort but overall quality of life. I wouldn't go to any other ophthalmologist after seeing Dr. Renaud.

Dr. Renaud saved my eye sight. Recently, I had an eye emergency during the night. I called her…read morepractice after midnight, to leave a message for an appointment. To my surprise, Dr. Renaud answered at 2:00am. I immediately apologized, but she stayed on the phone consulting with me and determined it was in fact a medical emergency, she instructed me to see a retina specialist right away and so I did first thing in the morning. I was treated right away, saving my eye sight. Dr. Renau. is my favorite MD ever. Her patients are her first priority. She has taken care of my eyes for years. I highly recommend her to anyone looking for excellence in eye care.

My kids give her two thumbs up each! We left a popular eye doctor because her bedside manner was so…read morepoor, and so that is one of the main things I planned to pay attention to at their first visit. Dr. Wei is beyond friendly, hospitable and caring. She spoke their language, got good communication going and made them feel at ease. She did come highly recommended and I can see why. I 100% recommend Dr. Wei to anyone looking for a pediatric opthalmologist.

Had an excellent experience taking my child to see Dr. Wei. Very patient, respectful and just…read morecompetent interacting with neurodivergent kids. Kind, friendly, kid-focused. Her office is also an excellent choice for anyone still taking the pandemic seriously, and she's the only medical provider I've found recently taking needed precautions.

An okay ophthalmology office. Appointments usually start late and take a long time. Technicians are…read morepolite. The front desk staff, not so much.

They need to work on their customer service. First the front desk. People are so unfriendly. They…read moreact like they hate their jobs. Second, I sat in that office for two hours. Twice they had me go back and wait in the lobby. I'm going to look for a new doctor.

Found this provider after another nearby provider suffered ongoing staff turnover and also refused…read moreto provide me the data I need to purchase glasses online (instead of buying expensive frames through the business). Also, given some recent diagnoses, I wanted someone with significant training and experience. At my first appointment Dr. Amy was great and so were her medical assistants and other staff. They were organized and pleasant, and Dr. Amy was efficient and thorough. She's not rushing me into cataract surgery until it's really needed. She happily gave me all the measurements I need to order glasses online. I like that her front office is spacious and sunny and very convenient to the VA Square Metro neighborhood. There is a pay parking lot and also metered street parking. Note that she doesn't participate in vision benefit plans (which I don't have) and her fee for refraction (new prescriptions) was less than what I paid elsewhere.

I never write reviews but this experience still doesn't sit well with me:…read more I'm sitting in one of Dr. Kotecha's exam rooms with blurry vision in one of my eyes waiting for the doctor. While I'm sitting there with my eyes dilated, a staffer comes in and says that there was a mistake and they do not take my insurance. They confirm with the doctor after some confusion that they do not take my insurance (even though they said they took my insurance on the phone when I made the appointment) and they tell me I will have to either pay out of pocket or imply that i could leave. They eventually agree to waive the out of pocket cost after about 20 minutes of waiting. But all was fine because I could see the doctor and they said they'd pay. However, during my exam, I felt that Dr. Kotecha essentially rushed me out the door. After taking a look at my eyes, she told me she couldn't help me and had no idea what the source of my blurry vision was. I was probably with her for about ten minutes. She even answered one of my questions about whether it was effective to use blue light filtering glasses to reduce eye strain with "couldn't hurt right" and I was out the door. A few weeks later, I receive a bill from her office which shows that they did bill my insurance which did pay. I was in network after all. So, I sat in her exam room, with my eyes dilated, waiting for Dr. Kotecha, trying to work with her staff on an insurance issue that they apparently made up because she wanted $180 dollars and not $90--which is the sum of what my insurance paid her office and what I paid her office as part of my cost share.

I have been seeing Dr. Melki and his staff since 2014. I had vitrectomies of both eyes caused by…read moreintense IT work under fluorescent lighting. I also had a huge mass removed in my right eye and a retinal tear fixed in my left eye. All surgeries went well. I see Dr. Melki and his staff once a year to monitor progress of my epiretinal membranes. He is extremely competent and has a great bedside manner as well as his staff. He is well worth the wait. He is the first to be called in case of emergencies.

I have been going to doctor Melki for 26 years. He is dedicated to helping people see! So glad to…read morehave met him. I recommend seeing him.

I have been coming here for about 2 years for routine care/eye injections. Staff and Dr. Smithen…read moreare wonderful with treatment and treat us all as individuals with our different levels of mobility and needs. Highly recommend.

I called after experiencing a sudden and scary problem with my vision. They got me in immediately…read morethe same day. The staff that answered the phone and the nurses and doctor were phenomenal. This place exceeded my expectations.

Dr. Hale has been exceptional for me. I see her once per year for diabetes follow-up and she…read moremaintains an incredible history. She has given great support on not only the diabetic follow-up, but also in care of my eyes as I have progressed to bifocals.

Kept me waiting for an hour. The exam room was not as clean as one would expect and their testing…read moreequipment looked old and second hand.

Not a professional office setting at all. Bedside manner is lacking. In regard to medical know…read morehow, I do not feel confident with their instruction. I plan to get a 2nd opinion. Scheduling an appt. With a specific Dr. Is difficult. You've got to have a flexible schedule. no wknd hours. Parking isn't validated and is $7.00 per hr+. Equipment is outdated and feels empty.

After twenty years as Dr. DiPaolo's patient, I am sad to leave. Sadly, the last two to three years…read morehave been very frustrating. Long wait times, disorganized visits, and mix-ups with my prescriptions forced me to find a new doctor. My Concerns * Long waits: I often wait over 30 minutes to get an exam room, and up to two hours to be examined after eye dilation. * Lack of a plan: Visits feel random, and the doctor asks me what we should do instead of following a clear care plan. * Prescription errors: His office prescribed a costly $450 drug I had never used before, and then he acted like he did not know who wrote it. His staff had confirmed he was the one who prescribed the specific medicine. This was a refill of a presciption I have been using for several years. * Rushed and disorganized: Appointments take hours, and he tries to add surprise tests at the last minute without respecting my schedule. In conclusion, visits for the last 2 to 3 years feel haphazard and unorganized. It seems like tests are repeated just because insurance pays for them, not because I need them. I cannot recommend the office anymore.

While cataract surgery is the most common outpatient surgical procedure and it is generally…read morewell-tolerated, it is not without its risks. Your physician should discuss the nature of the procedure and its risks. While some of the risks may be mitigated by the skill of the physician, some occur irrespective of the surgeon's ability. I can tell you that as a physician, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing :-) While the procedure is pretty much considered pain free, psychologically, I had a hard time wrapping my head around having someone use a scalpel on my eye! I wound up seeing (read interviewing) several ophthalmologists prior to finally selecting Dr. Dipaolo. Medicine is founded on both Art and Science. There are some intangible characteristics that in my humble opinion come into play in the selection of a physician, whether it is for Primary Care, a Specialist, or a Surgeon. Pretty quickly during my visit and initial exam, I knew that Dr. Dipaolo was THE guy to entrust my eyes to. He is very personable, has a great sense of humor, and is attentive to detail. Part of the preparatory process of having cataract surgery is the taking of certain measurements necessary for the selection of the intraocular lens. Unlike other Opthomology offices I had been to where assistants take these measurements, he does them himself....not once....but as many times as he deems necessary to ensure accuracy. The first cataract surgery simply removed the lens requiring the patient to wear very thick glasses. The first intraocular lens was produced in 1949 by Dr. Ridley. It has evolved substantially since that time. The most common lens, the one that I selected, has a fixed focal length allowing me to see sharply at a distance but requires that I use reading glasses for reading. Presbyopia occurs in most people in their 40s as it did me. The natural lens loses its elasticity becoming more rigid and its shape can no longer change resulting in the inability to focus on near objects without reading glasses. So, I am ecstatic about being where I was at 40! Some individuals choose to have mono vision. One eye gets a distant lens ad the other gets once for close up vision. Usually, these patients have had experience with mono vision having had contacts....one for distance in one eye and one for reading in the other. The brain learns to attend to one or the other automatically. For those who want the depth of field and greater clarity of binocular vision or have never done this previously, monocular intraocular lens replacement is not a good idea. The regular lenses are covered by Medicare. There are also specialty or premium lenses that are not covered by Medicare. They cost an additional amount of money....from $3,500 to $5,500 per eye. Premium lenses come in a couple of ways. There is a multifocal lens that allows a patient to see both distant and near objects without glasses. There is a potential side effect where the patient may see halos which is the reason I elected not to go this route. A toric lens is another premium lens that may be used for patients with moderate to severe astigmatism who would normally require glasses. It has to be placed very carefully and by its nature, adds a level of complexity over that of a simple monofocal lens. I have very little astigmatism so such a lens was really not necessary for me. There is also another lens that mimics the ability of our natural lens to utilize the same muscles to change focus. My opinion about this lens having read up on it is that it is probably not particularly effective. There are also complications with this lens where it folds upon itself. When I asked Dr. DiPaolo what he thought about them, he told me that he was not impressed with them. Some ophthalmologists will push for premium lenses. Dr. DiPaolo is not one of them. If you require cataract surgery, your physician will prescribe drops for the eye that is being operated on. It is VERY important that you use these drops as directed both prior to and after surgery. One of them is an antibiotic, another is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication for both pain and inflammation, and the last one is a steroid anti-inflammatory. Speaking of pain. Prior to the surgery, you will be given eye drops that dilate the pupil as well as a topical anesthetic. The anesthetic will also be instilled during the procedure. Immediately post-op for the first eye, at most I had perhaps a little bit of irritation but no real pain to speak of. For my second eye, I did not have any pain at all. Remarkably, my eyesight was pretty clear immediately post-op. However, it is not unusual for a patient's vision to be a little blurry at first. This is due to inflammation and subsides over time. Note: If you are a male who has taken any of these drugs for BPH, please tell Dr Dipaulo: terazosin (Hytrin), doxazosin (Cardura), tamsulosin (Flomax), alfuzosin (Uroxatral), and silodosin (Rapaflo)

Despite a longer than expected wait on a Friday evening, my experience at Northern Virginia Doctors…read moreof Optometry (NVDO) was excellent. Dr. Hubert and the entire staff were kind, patient, and professional throughout my visit. Upon arrival, I was greeted warmly by the front desk staff. Note that if you're a first time patient, you'll have several forms to fill out via paper. On the bright side, the pen I borrowed was super smooth to write with. Plus one star for that! For some reason, the doctor was behind, but the staff did a good job of informing me of the delays, popping in and out to let me know how much longer they'll be My not so favorite part about optometry visits is the puff in the eye and the dilation part, but that's just me. The tech was very patient with me blinking and having to re-do maybe twice or three times. Once seen by Dr. Hubert, the visit accelerated from there. He was knowledgeable, friendly, and was able to describe my conditions in a way that was understandable for me. Little did he know I come from a family of eye doctors, but I so appreciated that he was able to catch something my family had missed all along. The staff even gave me a week's worth of contact lenses samples as I was going away for a week, and that was so appreciated, especially since my visit took longer than usual. I was able to get my contact lens prescription via email too since it's a bit of a trek for me to find parking or walk there - super convenient. Overall, I highly recommend NVDO. Even if they have a slower / hectic schedule, they really do care about their patients and are super accommodating. Be sure to book way ahead of time because their schedule goes pretty far out - I waited 3 weeks for my appointment.

I went to the Rosslyn location but they don't seem to have a yelp page so writing the review here…read more Recommended to this practice after being a patient for many years at another practice - the other eye care practice was purchased by a PE firm and quality of care at least on lens fitting exams just deteriorated. For my appt, some staff gave me the peripheral vision exam, and some other routine exams first before Dr Hubert came for the eye exam for lenses. He was very patient, attentive, and answered all of my questions. Very happy with the experience. My previous experience at the other eye clinic was pretty terrible, an assistant was doing eye exam for lenses and a Dr only came in if there were problems, the sample glasses that the assistant tried on me with the prescription he got was still blurry, Dr was very annoyed that she had to step in and check the work instead of just signing off on it. That's what happens when health clinics get sold to PE firms, they focus on the bottom line more than patient care (trying to get assistants to do most of the work to free up Dr time and see more patients). Dr Hubert mentioned that NOVA Doctors have no intentions of selling their practice to PE and I can see the difference in care. Thank you also to the office staff who are very friendly.