The tech was over 30 minutes late and when I asked for long it would be the front desk staff was rude in answering. I politely asked how much longer, and she responded on a rude tone that the tech was late and to have a seat. Not the best impression. read more

I see Dr. Rappaport for glaucoma. He is excellent, caring, and I feel lucky to have him treating my vision issues. His Battlefield office management staff, however, is pathetic. Today I reported at 09:35 for a 09:50 appointment and finally saw the doctor at 11:40. During this two-hour period, I spent 3 minutes getting checked in and checking acuity and pressures. I spent another 3 minutes getting eye photos and an hour and a half waiting. This is typical for that office. When questioning the delay, much of the staff was flip, unconcerned, and/or clearly annoyed. My vision prevents me from driving so I must impose upon others for transportation, and those kind people are also adversely impacted. I see other aged patients with canes, wheelchairs, and creeping at a snail's pace and see the discomfort on their faces as they wait and wait and wait and wait. It is sad. I hear the sarcastic comments of other patients as they wait and wait. When I discussed this with Dr, Rappaport, he told me that the staff is supposed to give regular status on the wait times but I have never heard jack. Never a status, never an explanation, and God forbid, never an apology. Such a status report would at least allow the opportunity to get a refreshment or reschedule in extreme cases. Had I treated ANY of my customers with such rudeness in my business dealings I would surely be unemployed and bankrupt. This is shameful. I have witnessed other specialists resolve this situation. It COULD be fixed, but as long as the money keeps flowing in, nobody seems interested respecting very people that who are responsible for the Tidewater Eye Center existence. read more

Terrible customer care. Scheduled appointments mean nothing, you will wait and wait and wait. Checked in on time only to sit in waiting room for 45 minutes before being called. ( Wonder how they would have acted if I showed up 45 minutes after my scheduled time?) Then a technician, not a doctor, examined/ tested my eyes for 10 minutes, put drops and took me to another waiting room where I sat for an hour. Ridiculous! read more

My mother informed me on Thanksgiving day that this practice has rescheduled her since april 2023 resulting in a completely avoidable emergency surgery situation due to loss of peripheral vision in one of her eyes. I will be seeking legal action on her behalf and I will be spreading the word aggressively. Dr. Rappaport specifically has other negative reviews on this website that require aging parent's children to step in. Do not trust this practice with your loved ones if you care for their well-being. read more

Just an echo of all the other patients that think this place has a total disregard for there patients. You are nothing more than cattle being rounded up for treatment. They stack everybody in and it is an assembly line where the doctor sits in his chair and waits for the next patient. Boom, boom, Boom, Next! Waited an hour and a half for a 2 minute procedure! Infuriating! And we were told he was running on time! Nothing new here. Also, Dr. Edmonds needs to work on his bedside manner or lack there of. Must not be enough money in that portion of patient care. All that being said the procedure worked and was painless. Thanks for that at least read more

What is there not to love about this practice and Dr. Newson in particular? Tidewater Eye Centers was recommended to me by a friend when I was in need of eye lid surgery. She sees, and absolutely loves Dr. Pavlik. But Dr. Newson was obviously their eye lid guy, since they scheduled me with him. And I'm very glad they did. He continued to test every 6 months until my results met the criteria for insurance coverage. I can't tell you honestly that eye lid surgery is pleasant. Picture being awake while someone removes a portion of your eyelid while saying "Little sting now." Gross understatement..... Cringe..... When my vision hadn't gotten sufficiently better after 6 months I questioned Dr. Newson about why they hadn't stabilized. He nonchalantly said, "Oh, that's because of the cataracts." My immediate response of "I don't have cataracts" was meant by the answer "Yes you do." Why didn't he tell me? "Because we needed to do the eyelids first." He was so right. The cataract wait thus began. The offending creatures had to meet Medicare's criteria, which I have decided is to be totally blind. I couldn't read street signs. I would get about two inches from the computer screen & still not be able to read it. Numbers were a guess. Was it a 3 or an 8? It might even be a 2. And forget about seeing piano music. Finally the time came when I was blind enough for Medicare to approve. That was the good news. The bad news is that I have an astigmatism & Medicare doesn't pay for astigmatism lens. It would be a $1,500 out of pocket charge per eye to correct that problem. At the time I thought the charge to be astronomical. But I later learned that most eye surgery practices charge double that. This was a one time shot to toss my glasses into the Chesapeake Bay. So a Torik astigmatism lens it was. Dr. Newsom told me he could give me distance or close with an astigmatism lens, but not both. I chose distance and scheduled the first eye. What was approached with apprehension turned out to be a "piece of cake". And imagine my surprise when I learned over after surgery brunch at Citrus that with one distance lens & one near sighted uncorrected eye, I could see all distances. It was a miracle!! At the next morning's follow up, I told Dr. Newsom about the miracle. He asked if I had ever worn one distance & one near contact lens. The answer, of course, was Yes. "Then we'll do the other eye near & you'll never have to wear glasses again. Your brain actually makes the adjustment." That's what we did & hurray!!! No more glasses..... Dr. Newsom is much more than an eye surgeon. He regularly monitors my eyes for an RA medicine that can affect one's vision. He takes care of all my vision needs. I trust him implicitly regarding all eye & vision health decisions. He, and his staff, are pleasant, knowledgeable and efficient. The Hilltop East office is clean, well laid out, and even offers WiFi. One hasn't lived a complete life until they try to read on their iPad in the inner waiting room with dilated eyes. Tidewater Eye Centers' Hilltop East office comes highly recommended by this satisfied patient. Particularly awesome is Dr. Roger Newsom. read more

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Tried to be seen here. Called once and receptionist said they didn't take my insurance. Called insurance company, not only does Tidewater accept my insurance, they're a preferred provider! Called Tidewater, made appointment. Went to appointment. Waited over 40 minutes and they still weren't ready for me. Per the receptionist, this is common. I can't imagine what kind of doctor's office thinks wasting their patients time is acceptable. It's beyond rude. They expect you to pull your child from school, get a babysitter for other children, but you as a patient, cannot expect to be seen in a timely manner? Good luck with that business plan. read more

Update: I'm no stranger to surgeries and medical procedures, but so many of them have gone poorly for me, either by being painful or ineffective or mistakes being made. This was my first elective medical procedure and the only one that went smoothly and painlessly. The most painful part of this procedure was peeling the tape off my face to lift the eye shields up to put eye drops in. Getting the valium was a big help to my anxiety and took away my restless/fidgety nature so I could lay still during the procedure. This team seemed liked a well oiled machine; they communicated concisely and calmly and it was incredibly comforting to know what was going on and how long it would take for each step. When I heard "18 seconds," I felt extremely relieved, not just because that step was extremely short, but also because I knew what to expect. The team had an awesome sense of humor and had me laughing for half the procedure. There was pressure, there was discomfort, but there wasn't any pain and I don't think the entire procedure took 5 minutes. I kept my eyes closed for a few hours after, but when I woke up and lifted the eye shields, I could see, perfectly, and that's amazing. My friend was able to sit in a waiting room and watch/record the procedure on a TV, which was so cool. I've watched the video like 5 times already and I just can't believe the coordination and care they're able to achieve. I have 20/20 vision the day after the procedure, with no pain or dryness. To prepare for the surgery I took fish oil, lutein, and zeaxanthin, used preservative free eye drops generously as well as MSM eyedrops daily and used a steam mask daily. I've been giving my eyes a full 30 seconds closed at the beginning of every hour to be sure I don't experience the dryness or discomfort that I've read some others do. I'm not sure if all the prepping I did contributed to how smoothly it went, but I know it went a long way toward making my eyes feel better regardless. read more

The best in Hampton Roads!!!!! Wonderful friendly staff , very attentive they are always smiling and the office is nice and clean

Have had multiple issues here but tried to give them the benefit of the doubt. I had surgery with them and they had to reschedule at the last minute because the doctor was sick. Was rescheduled for the next week and the laser that cuts the flap did not completely work. The older scalpel method was used for that eye. It ended up having scar tissue. Things happen, I understand. However, they strung me along for 5 years saying there were things they could do to improve my vision. Nothing was ever done and eventually they said just to get glasses. My biggest issue is that on 4 separate occasions, they had me scheduled at one office, only for me to get there and then tell me the equipment they needed for me was at another office. This happened one time after I had waited there 2 hours and it took me an hour to drive there in the first place. I feel like I was very patient and gave them opportunities to fix the problems. Now I have a wrinkled cornea and I am being seen elsewhere. If you value your vision and your time, for the love of all that is holy, run very far away from tidewater eye center. read more

I had bilateral Custom Lasik done on April 1st with Dr. Edmonds and couldn't be happier. I definitely did my homework and had 5 different consultations at various doctors across the Hampton Roads area and decided to move forward with Tidewater Eye Centers. Here are my thoughts on the experience: On the doc: Dr. Edmonds is 1 of the 6 certified Lasik surgeons in the area. His background is very impressive, but he also has great bedside manner. He answered all my questions and concerns in a friendly manner and even called me the night of my surgery to see how I was doing. While I know that there are no guarantees with Lasik, I felt very comfortable in his hands. On the facility: It's located in a strip mall, so is a nice small location (I went to one place that was huge and had ridiculous wait times). It was clean, nice, and the staff took good care to ensure everything was sterilized and in it's place. There is a viewing room for your driver/loved one if they want to watch the surgery. On the staff: The staff here is the icing on the cake. They were friendly, knowledgeable, and really seem to love their jobs. I felt that all the technicians I encountered were extremely capable, but it was the Lasik Surgery Coordinator who really impressed me. She went above and beyond for me several times....from booking my appointment last minute to fit my schedule and working out the best price for me (even after the surgery occurred). I highly recommend Tidewater Eye Center to anyone who is considering getting Lasik. read more

I setup a lasik eye consultation which was to be on a Friday. The Battlefield office called me 30 minutes before my appointment to tell me the "scheduler" had to leave for personal reasons. They couldn't explain what the scheduler had to do with my appointment and why I couldn't still be seen, just advised that someone (the scheduler) would call me Monday to reschedule. Monday came around and the scheduler contacted me and set up my new consultation appointment. The day of my 2nd attempt at an appointment, they called me 3 hours before, and AGAIN cancelled due to the scheduler not being in the office. Apparently the place shuts down and patients can't get seen if this one person is not present. At least that's how they make it sound. No other explanations were given, just that the scheduler would call me on a later date to reschedule a 3rd appointment. I told the caller I would take my business elsewhere. I would be stupid to try this a 3rd time. read more

Tidewater Eye Centers changed my life. I would like to start with the consultation process. The staff was extremely friendly and helped me work out a schedule for lasik that would best fit my schedule. Compared to the competitors, the pricing was lower. Moving on I'd like to discuss surgery. They gave me something to calm my nerves, which I'm grateful for because I was honestly a wreck from being so terrified by the idea of what was going to happen. I'm laying on the table and it suddenly becomes real. I would like to put out there, IT DOES NOT HURT. The pressure on my eyes didn't feel fantastic, but at no point would I say I had pain even when they started with the flap and laser. They continually made sure that I had enough numbing drops in and was there for me emotionally walking me through. They were all so comforting and made the process easier for me(I'm a big chicken honestly). Eventually I was completely calm and could see the laser, which was pretty epic to experience. I looked like I was in a storm cloud haha. My vision was quite poor before lasik, I completely relied on my glasses and contacts. The moment I got up I could instantly see so much better. Today is the day after surgery, my eyes do not hurt at all and I have 20/20. If you ever have considered lasik, please it is so worth it; and if you go anywhere, I completely recommend Tidewater Eye Centers. I'm so grateful for them and the entire process. read more

I had an appointment today and waited over three hours. I will never take my mother back there again They need some time management read more

John T.....I have been a patient at Tidewater Eye Center for 5 years and couldn't be more pleased with the care and professionalism displayed by the staff and doctors that have treated me, and my wife. Dr. Pavilak in particular is quite skilled and knowledgeable. I would recommend their services to anyone who seeks quality eye care. read more

I had an issue with one of my eyes, an infection from my contact lens, and needed to see someone immediately. I called up first thing on a Wednesday morning and was given a 2:00pm appointment that day. I saw Dr. Mark Iacobucci who was nice, professional, and knowledgeable. He prescribed me some medication and had me schedule a follow up appointment. As a first time patient I was out in about 35-40 minutes. Every staff member I encountered was friendly and professional as well. My follow up appointment with Dr. Mark Pavilack was just as good as my first experience. He was nice to me and knew what he was talking about. I didn't feel like it was rushed and it felt like he genuinely wanted to help me. Overall my experience was great and would highly recommend them. In regards to a 1 star review another patient left, I think there could be some validity to potentially long wait times (there is a second waiting room) however if you are smart about when you make your appointment it shouldn't be an issue. And unless you are going on a weekly basis it is probably worth the wait. read more

I can see now!!! Had to get prk instead of LASIK but I'm glad I was able to get either or!! Thank you dr pavilack for my eye sight!!

I would like to say that I have been a patient here for several years and the wait time for Dr Rappaport is ridiculous. They bring you in on an overbooked schedule and then one by one you get moved to the second waiting room in the back. I understand he may be ONE of the best doctors in his practice area but don't count on him to have a pleasant bedside manner. My biggest complaint is you lose time and money sitting in his wait room. And, doctors want to charge their patients for not showing up or being late? Seriously, how about we send YOU a bill for out inconvenience? To add insult to injury the staff (Jacqueline) specifically at Laskin Rd needs some customer service skills. Obviously you have some serious training issues. She is rude and abrupt when talking with patients over the phone. I am very upset that the office is so out of touch with how to treat patients. You seem to have forgotten who pays your bills. I am a very unsatisfied patient that had to voice an opinion. PLEASE listen to the way Jacqueline talks to the patients and either replace her or train her on "how" to speak to patient. She is not an asset to your practice. Thank you. A very unhappy experience again today. read more

Great doctors and superb treatment. However, there can be a long wait at times (at least at the Battlefield location). The waiting room is like a can of sardines and the internal waiting room is 10 times smaller. At times the it feels like you're being processed in a factory. Average time for your annual eye exam can last around 2 and a half hours. And then you actually see the doctor for an average of five minutes. Thankfully, you only have to do this annually! read more

This place is awful. Tried going for several years. Usually kept waiting. They overbook like an airline. Don't care about patient.

I had laser eye surgery yesterday by Dr Pavilack the entire process was amazing! The laser coordinator made sure I was knowledgeable of all appointments prior to my surgery. The technicians that worked with me pre-operatively for all of my test explained everything in details as to what measurements were required and how they would be used to give me the best vision possible. The physician explained my best options between lasik and PRK, to which I agreed to have PRK. On surgery day I was very nervous however the entire laser team calmed me, explained to me that my feelings were normal, explained the entire process to my husband and I. Once I was in the laser suite Dr Pavilack was very comforting he explained everything he was doing before he did it, he was very soothing and calming. The entire procedure took less than 20 minutes and I was on my way home. I thought I had hit the jackpot when I became an employee with TEC but my expectations were surpassed as a patient. I will forever recommend TEC to friends, family and acquaintances! Thank you Dr P and TEC team!! read more