This review is long overdue and I've finally gotten the time to write it out. But long story short, beware of this place. They are more than happy to nickel and dime you, take your money, and waste your time.
My last visit here was on January 4 and I will not be returning. I was scheduled for both a contact lense fitting and ophthalmologist appointment. The contact lense fitting went perfectly fine, and after some time I went in to have my eyes dilated before seeing the ophthalmologist. I waited a little over an hour before I was told that I would be seeing Dr. Pham. I initially thought I was seeing Dr. Mosier but didn't make a big deal out of it.
About another 30 mins or so later I am examined by Dr. Pham. From this point on, my experience became worse. Dr. Pham was very negative throughout the entire process and made me feel very uneasy and nervous. She said that my left eye vision is worse than my right eye and then retracted how she phrased it by saying, "I mean it's not worse but it's a lot different" when she saw my expression. Then when I told her about symptoms I've been having, namely intermittent stabbing pain that alternates between both eyes and sends weird sensations in my body, she said I needed to see a neurologist because that's not my eyes. For the rest of the visit she continued to insist that I get in touch with my GP immediately and have him refer me to a neurologist.
After the examination was finished, she said all is fine with my eye health except that I have dry eyes, so I will need to receive treatment and cannot wear contacts. So there's $60 out the window for a contact lense fitting that I was unable to be refunded. Had I known this was going to happen, I wish they would've advised me against doing a fitting before my ophthalmologist appointment.
After I left the office, I did as Dr. Pham requested and mentioned her concerns to my GP. Needless to say, he was confused as to why an ophthalmologist would make a recommendation like this, especially if my eyes are healthy. He also found her behavior unprofessional.
Then to make matters even more worse, when I went to CVS the next day I found out that the three prescriptions she was trying to put me on were going to cost me over $1,850.49! One of the "long term" ones she was trying to put me on known as Restasis costed over $600 on its own and needed authorization by my insurance, which might not even cover it in the first place. There were two "short term" medications she wanted to put me on and one of them (Cyclosporine) would've cost me a little over $1,000!!! In total all of these meds would cost more than my monthly rent. No ophthalmologist I know (and for people I know personally with dry eyes) has ever recommended an expensive treatment plan like this. They just get an over the counter recommendation of eye drops from their ophthalmologists.
After a week or so I called the office to ask if I could see another ophthalmologist there and they told me I couldn't because Dr. Pham is the only dry eye specialist there. I told them I didn't want to see a dry eye specialist, but they insisted she was the only one I could see from now on. Now because of Dr. Pham I'm unable to bypass to see another ophthalmologist at this location, and I'm unable to get my contact lense prescription signed off on by the optometrist, Dr. Kattan. I wasted and lost money from my lense fitting that they wouldn't refund me. They only offered to "credit" my next fitting which they know I can't have because Dr. Pham said I can't wear contacts. I could hear Dr. Pham in the background telling the staff that I can't wear contacts because we need to wait until I have treatment to see how it goes.
Dr. Pham was incredibly rude, condescending, and overall unprofessional, but then again so is most of their staff. Especially the front desk. Then they had the audacity to try and call me back to schedule another appointment with Dr. Pham and I told them no because I couldn't afford her treatment plan. The lady on the phone (I assume she was a member of the front desk staff) said "Oh that's normal, I can call your insurance and see if they will authorise it and call you back." No one ever called me back to follow up on this. I'm baffled as to why they'd put their patients on a treatment plan that the majority of them, myself included, probably can't afford.
After my last visit (my second time there), they gave me the worst experience I've ever had at an eye care center, and purposely wasted my money and time. Do not go here! I highly recommend taking your business somewhere else. I know I will be.
Also a few updates : I called the CVS pharmacy to check and see if they called my insurance to authorize my prescription and it still costs $1,850.49 even with insurance!
Lastly, I did end up seeing a neurologist and getting an MRI a few months later due to anxiety from Dr. Pham's comment, and the results were normal. So she gave me all this anxiety for nothing! read more
