Our family began seeing Dr Mastroni 32 years ago. We have had annual glasses check-ups with excellent care by both Dr Mastroni and his technicians. Many years ago my husband had a torn retina and Dr Mastroni arranged surgery for him in Santa Rosa 16 hours later. His vision was saved Both my husband and I have had cataract surgery with Dr Mastroni's clinic with wonderful results: being able to drive again at night and glowing new colors. We have a special needs daughter (who does not speak and is now 62) and both Dr Mastroni and his technicians have given her outstanding care every year. We just had our annual check-ups this week 3/25 with typical exceptional care. We are so fortunate to have such excellent local care. The office staff has always been cheerful, professional and helpful. Dianne B read more

If you are yearning to have your eyes injured and yourself insulted, then please go to Dr. Mastrioni. Some little old lady will mess with your eyes, send you home unable to SEE, and also to be RUDE about it. DO NOT GO here unless you like pain and fear and an apathetic staff! I'm reporting them and I hope that they stop abusing their patients. Very bad place, Do Not Recommend! read more

I am reading some of these reviews and wondering if they went to the same Ophthalmology office I went to, because Dr. Mastroni and his staff couldn't be more professional and courteous. His office staff is friendly, smiley, and knowledgeable, and yet they're on the ball and super efficient. I am also incredibly grateful that their office staff was able to get me in so fast. I've had blurring in my right eye, and since I just moved back to Eureka after 30 years in New England, I can't get in with any primary care office. When I noticed the blurring, the only thing I could do was go to the ER. They ruled out a stroke (!! good lord!) and recommended I see an ophthalmologist. They gave me Dr. Mastroni's name, and another guy's name. Since they gave me the other guy first, I tried them. They couldn't see me until January, and said that I needed a referral. Apparently the ER doctor wasn't enough for them. However, Dr. Mastroni's office was super helpful and asked me to call the ER to have them send the doctor's notes, and they could get me in within two days! I am so impressed. I am used to some of the best medical service on the East Coast and being seen in two days is incredibly fast. Dr. Mastroni is intelligent, serious, and attentive. His medical assistants were thorough, and he was careful to show me where the problem was and suggest what we should do about it. He told me that I should "zen out" for a month as the edema looked like something you would see in super stressed individuals, and it could go down on its own. Given I was recently in a rear-end collision that caused a concussion and totaled my car, while also packing up to move across country and say goodbye to my eldest (who is still on the east coast), stress seemed a very likely cause. I did the Zen out, checking my vision on a little square grid thing daily to see if it improved. When I returned a month later, I could actually see instead of having a blind spot, but everything was wavy. Testing showed that my overall vision had degraded, and there was an overgrowth of blood vessels at the back of my eye--at least that's what I remember. Dr. Mastroni showed me the scans and explained what was going on, but I got lost in the details because he said treatment involved needles in my EYEBALL! (I've since found out several friends have had this done--it really doesn't hurt but I was freaking out.) That said, he and his staff were great about reassuring me, even when I said I might run out of the building. I got numbing drops, and while getting needles stuck in my EYEBALL, his staff helped me to look left and keep focusing on their hand while he put the shots into the right side of my eye. They even gave me a little bottle of refresh tears since my eye was likely to feel "gravelly." (It did.) I need to go back in a month. Overall I have been beyond impressed by this office. I can highly recommend it. Unlike the other office in town, North Coast Ophthalmology took me seriously, got me in within two days when I was referred (while the other office in town dug in their heels and said I needed to wait 5 months AND get a referral!), and they are diligent in follow up care. This is going to sound pretentious, but after 30 years in New England, I am used to having access to some of the best medical services in the country. Dr. Mastroni ranks right up there with them. Yes, he is serious and focused--AND he's also really good at what he does.10/10. Highly recommended. read more

I saw Dr. Gibbs in this office. He was absolutely amazing! Very thorough and kind. He knows what he's doing. He immediately recognized that I was under medicated for Shingles, after a visit to the St. Joseph's Hospital. AdditionallyI had seen Dr. Apte at Humboldt Medical Eye Associates on Harrison Avenue Eureka. She was dismissive and didn't catch the shingles on my Cornea. Additionally she did not see me while she was on call even though she told me to call her if I had certain symptoms. Dr. Gibb and his staff are friendly, professional, and efficient. I would recommend anyone to this office. Dr. Gibb saved my eye site. Shingles on the eye is serious and needs attention immediately upon discovery. Thank you Dr. Gibbs. Not sure why this did not post when written. Posting now read more

Dr. Mastroni is incredibly rude, and condescending. Careless of patient concerns and pain, and careless of pain he inflicts. Only a sting of insults can describe him. Garbage experience. read more

Run away from this place. Completely unprofessional how they handle patients (kids). My son has difficulty pronouncing words and the first person who conducted an eye exam scored him low and when asked about his score I was told "well I could not understand him." Should be noted that I was right there and he was able to say each shape up until the last set of shapes when it gets very small. Secondly, the lead doctor came in and looked at his notes for 3 seconds, looked at me and said "well he needs glasses." When I said, no he does not need glasses, he became very defensive and then said "well let me take a look." He conducted the same test and my son once again did very well. He then dilated his pupils and came back for a 3rd test. After all 3 test he said "well there is a slight difference in acuity between the two eyes, but this may be fixed based on his age (4 year of age). At this point he said "why don't you come back in 6 months and we can evaluate him again. This is where I expressed my concern about how the first evaluation went and then how he himself handled the evaluation (telling me my son needs glasses before even saying hello or doing his own evaluation). When I told him I did not have confidence in his evaluation and that his office is completely unprofessional, he responded and said "well, we will be making a note of this" this was followed by him walking out of the room, into his office and closing his door (I felt like I was in the Seinfeld episode where the doctor writes down notes about George). What's amazing to me is that this doctor felt that I should just blindly follow his evaluation without asking any questions or an explanation, and then to make a childish threat that he is going to make a note of this on his chart instead of saying "wow, I have a parent who is really concerned about their child and I need to stay a bit and provide them with all the information needed to help them make a decision." Instead he did what most people do in these situations (walk away and blame me as the problem). read more

Have had a great, kind experience with the doctors and staff here, except for Dr. Mastroni. He was downright cruel when I came in. He was mad that I had self-diagnosed my uveitis, then when I was right, he berated me for going to the E.R. the day before.... On a Sunday when North Coast Ophthalmology was closed! They say themselves on the answering machine if its a medical emergency to call 911. I couldn't see so I figured it was an emergency. He continued to scold me for not having traveled to SF to have tests done for my disorder and made me feel like an idiot, when the whole referral process is confusing and long, not to mention at the time I was flat broke. I left his office in tears but followed his orders for my eye drops, when I changed to a different doctor at the Arcata North Coast Ophthalmology, he immediately reduced my drops by half, reassured me I would be fine, and was all around great. It was a night and day experience. All in all, I would recommend any other doctor at North Coast, but come prepared to be berated with Mastroni. read more

Dr. Gibb and staff were stupendous. Had great cataract surgery results. What a great experience and can see better than ever. It was painless and smooth sailing through it all. Recommended highly by me. read more

Last October Dr. Mastroni told me I have glaucoma, I would go blind with out eye drops, there is no alternative & sent me home with some drops. 4 visits, new drops each time and little change in the pressure; I couldn't remember the name of the last drops, he told me to call in the name and he'd call back with no indication as to continue the drops he had given me. No call back and a week later I found a highly rated Ophthalmologist out of town & after extensive testing he told me my optic nerve was healthy, to quit the eye drops & come back in 6 months. 6 months later my optic nerve is still healthy and normal - no glaucoma! Second opinions matter. read more

I recently came down with iritis. Iritis is an inflammation of the iris, which when it becomes worse can cause your vision to cloud over. I was referred to Dr. Mastroni by a physician at the urgent care in Eureka. My experience with Dr. Mastroni was unfortunately not a very good one. Losing your vision in an eye can be an intense experience. Dr. Mastroni was not very good at explaining to me what was going on exactly. He is not a very patient man, and perhaps he has seen this sort of thing many times over the years he has been practicing but for me it was a first. He never made any effort to make me feel like everything was going to be okay and he couldn't tell me if my vision would return or not. I saw him seven times over the course of three and a half weeks and my vision was not improving. So I went to see an eye doctor in the bay area for a second opinion. Right away the doctor informed me that Dr. Mastroni's course of treatment was prescribed incorrectly. I was taking steroid eye drops once an hour but sleeping through the night. If you are seeing him for iritis know that you ARE supposed to be waking up at night to take the eye drops. It is not fun, but if you do not then in that time that you are asleep your eye has plenty of time to revert back to it's inflamed state. Also, the doctor in the bay area was able to tell me about three minutes into my exam that my vision would probably return completely. All that required was me looking through a tiny hole in a circular piece of plastic and reading the letters on the screen. Also, Dr. Mastroni prescribed me a relatively high dosage of oral steroids over the course of a week (on top of the eye drops). I was informed by the two other eye doctors that I have seen since I have seen Dr. Mastroni that was also the incorrect way to treat me with those. You apparently are supposed to be weaned off of them slowly or this can also cause re-inflammation. If you are seeing Dr. Mastroni for iritis you need to know that the dosages the way he prescribed them for me are not the correct usage. I would suggest another doctor honestly. But if you would like to stay with him for the sake of continuity then I would suggest discussing his prescription of steroid use. read more

Dr. Gellner sent me here after she determined that I had an object embedded in my eye. They were very busy, but she insisted, and they squeezed me in after 10-15 minutes. The Dr. was rushed but did me a huge favor by getting me in on such short notice. read more

Really friendly staff, very kind. My doctor, Mastroni, is very detailed and though the office is busy, he never seems rushed with my visits. They are a very busy office but efficient. I really appreciate that they always take me at my scheduled time. read more