I do not recommend Dr. Shepps. At 42, Dr. Shepps diagnosed cataracts in both of my eyes that required surgeries. He started with my right eye. There are several potential lenses that can be implanted into the eye instead of the natural lens clouded by the cataract. One type is covered by insurance; the other is not. Dr. Shepps told me that I needed the lens not covered by insurance, and charged me $1,800, as it was an Alcon lens. He did not run the charge through my insurance even though he was obligated to do that. While interested in discussing lenses and their prices, Dr. Shepps is not keen on discussing medical issues and answering questions. So, he asked me not to question him, and promised that I would be happy with the outcome. I really liked what I heard - Dr. Shepps was just so confident and seemingly knew what he was talking about. And how often do you get a doctor to promise you a "happy outcome"?!
More on the promise: moments after Dr. Shepps promised that I will be happy with the outcome, and when I still could not see due to my dilated eyes and, well, due to the problem I went to him to begin with, he requested that I sign some consent forms. Guess what the consent forms said? Yes, that no specific promises had been made, and that all of my questions were answered to my satisfaction!
Dr. Shepps advertises that he does surgeries in some impressive places, such as Manhattan Eye and Ear Institute. But he steered me to do surgery in Queens, in a much less known place, which turned out to be less than impressive.
As you may guess, the cataract surgery Dr. Shepps performed on my right eye did not go well. I went back to Dr. Shepps several times after the surgery. On the day after the surgery, Dr. Shepps did not even care to see how the eye looked, but let Dr. Wallis examine me first. It was when Dr. Wallis found a problem, that Dr. Shepps took over the examination. Dr. Shepps did not seem to care that I could not see, that I was in pain, that I experienced flickering, fireworks, dizziness, and was unable to live a normal life solely as a result of his surgery. He said that another surgery would fix the problem, and then he would do a Lasik, and then he would move onto my left eye cataract surgery. (Yes, Dr. Shepps has some moxie!) So, I finally realized that I made a mistake and went to another doctor. The new doctor just said that Shepps implanted the wrong lens into my right eye, and that the basic lens (the one that was fully covered by insurance) would best suit my needs. So, the new doctor redid the surgery (yes, as in performed a second eye surgery). The covered-by-insurance lens was implanted. And immediately I was all good. But I had been miserable for some 45 days in between the two surgeries. The most upsetting part - I learned from my several successor doctors that, in all likelihood, the cataract surgery Dr. Shepps did was not needed at all.
So, I had thought I emerged more or less unscathed from the ordeal, save for two surgeries, 45 days of misery, with implanted artificial lens instead of natural, and some money wasted. But the problem is that once eye structure is disturbed, there is a high risk of other issues, such as retinal tears. And that is really scary stuff...
Good luck in choosing a good doctor, and I wish you all the best in resolving your eye issues! read more