Several things went wrong during my visit. I saw the female doctor rather than Dr. Lelonek. Before I continue, I'll give a generalized history of eye health.
A few years back I got an allergic reaction to Acuvue Oasys. I didn't know it at the time; I simply went to the doctor with photosensitivity and conjunctivitis. He told me I had giant papillary conjunctivitis (often a side effect of wearing contacts too much), and to stop wearing contacts for a few months while also using the drops he prescribed. I did as such, and months later was excited to put the contacts back in. I instantly got an allergic reaction and saw a second doctor. He informed me I was simply allergic to contact lenses and gave me steroid drops--I asked him if perhaps there was an alternative lens I could use. He informed me (this doctor wasn't great either and evidently not caught up in medical literature) that there was no such thing as being allergic to just one type of lens; if you were allergic to one kind, you were allergic to them all.
I was very doubtful of this advice and so I ran an experiment. I had some Acuvue 2 colored lenses from a while back; I put them in, no reaction. I put the Oasys lenses in, instant reaction. It was fairly obvious what was going on.
Fast forward to needing new glasses and an updated contacts prescription. I told her I needed Acuvue 2 instead of Oasys and she asked me why; I gave her the reason. She told me such an allergy didn't exist; I explained to her that I had seen several doctors about this and each one didn't solve the reaction issue, but Acuvue 2 did. She then accused me of lying and told me the reason I hopped around with doctors was because I wasn't happy with the diagnoses they gave me, entirely disregarding the fact I was perfectly fine with Acuvue 2. And the reason I had seen different doctors was because I attended school in one city and the other was a specialist in my hometown. Accusing your patient of being wrong, disregarding their patient history, and cutting them off from telling the rest of it is NOT good bedside manner.
She then discovered I had GPC. At this point she was convinced the reason I had reactions to Acuvue Oasys was because I wore my contacts far too much and didn't clean them properly. She asked me if I rubbed them before and after washing. I said no and was about to explain the packaging said it was no-rub unless your physician directs you to, which mine had not, but she literally "tch'd" me as if I were an impertinent teenager and cut me off without letting me explain my habits as a patient. Again, not interested in patient history.
She then proceeded to explain to me that I would experience hypervascularization due to my eyes suffocating and go blind if I kept wearing contacts, the way some young patient she had did. I understand the ramifications, but scare tactics were not the way to go here.
Hence I left being told not to wear contacts anymore. The glasses I received were also not optimized to my nose bridge and kept falling off whenever I tilted my head downward, so that wasn't great.
This would all be fine if the doctor was right, despite not taking adequate patient history or listening to her patient. But Acuvue Oasys allergies are real. When, several months later, I explained my situation to another doctor who personally knew Dr. Lelonek, he told me about recent medical literature documenting this allergy and that GPCs were a side effect of the allergy as well. He was surprised when I told him I was informed that this wasn't true at Dr. Lelonek's office, until I informed him it was a different doctor who worked there that told me that.
Evidently she wasn't keeping up with reading the latest medical literature in her field. Since then, I've moved around quite a bit, and each doctor I've seen in each city is completely unsurprised when I tell them of the Oasys allergy. Being involved in research myself, I've even had the papers at hand to present just in case I was accused of lying again (fortunately never had to present them).
Anyway, if you're going to see an eye doctor at Dr. Lelonek's office, don't see her. read more
