I had a bad experience here. Mostly because of my own issues, but onward....
The check in was painless, fill out a couple papers. One of the papers was like, "If you let us take a PICTURE of your retina, we wont have to do the eye-drop manual looking thing. But, it's $20 extra and not billable to your insurance." I have issues with eyedrops. I have issues with pretty much anything foreign going into orifices other than my mouth (and even then, I limit to food and alcohol and water, and the like). Medicines, injections, even stitches provide me with a oneway ticket to the floor. Passout time.
I talk to the receptionist about the option of no eyedrops and she encourages me, saying it takes less time and there is no need for eyedrops. I'm like, SWEET because I haven't been to the eye doctor in almost 10 years because of those damn things. Sign me up for the retina pics.
I get in the exam room, do a series of "tests" for my eyes, and then they take the super bright pictures of my eyes. I ask the doctor's assistant, just to make sure I'm getting my $20 worth, "So this means I don't need any eye drops, RIGHT? And they don't have to push on my eyeball with the blue light thingie?" She replies, "That's right."
Fast forward. I'm in the second exam room, and the doctor comes in. We do the whole, "Is One better, or Two? Two or Three? One or Three?" To be honest I can't really tell the difference between most of them. Then I went on to embarrass myself with the part that goes, "Cover one eye, and read the letters on the top line, right to left." "ummm.... a? m? 3? oh shit that's not a letter...."
Then she goes, "Okay, these are some EYE DROPS to dilate your eyes so I can check the pressure." *GULP* I felt like I was having an out of body experience. I thought to myself, "Well, maybe this time I wont get sick, it has been a long time since I've done this. Maybe I'm over it." The eyedrops make themselves at home in my eyes. I feel okay. We do the tests, and wander into the other room to talk about my retina pictures (that were SUPPOSED to eliminate the need for eye drops).
She explaining to me what the pictures mean, and I start to feel lightheaded. I nod, pretending I'm understand her or even listening at all, but it hits. I say, "I need to sit down."
I'm getting a little queezy thinking about it. I sit in this exam room for about 15 minutes, head between my legs, with a cold paper towel on my forhead. I ask for a trashcan, thinking chunks will be blown.
I finally get up, check out, pay my $20 that shouldn't have been paid, and walk out the door. BAM. I'm on my ass on the sidewalk. Shit. I shoulda known.
Thumbs down for not warning me. I can't be the only person allergic to all things medical. Thumbs down for not giving me a prescription card so I could take it to Lenscrafters and get cheap glasses. SHAME ON YOU.
Other than that, everyone was pretty nice, even if I was about to blow chunks. read more