I was told to show up early for my appointment. I spent over an hour waiting in the empty lobby. A few other patients came in to see other doctors and were seeing right away. I explained my light sensitivity and pain associated with it. I reported light flashes in my eyes, pink vision after being exposed to light, floaters, blurriness and other issues.
Many of the staff members are new and still being trained. Staff members were trying to find other staff members to guide them through their job. I spent another hour in the back waiting for the doctor, due to lack of organizational skills and untrained staff. My appointment lasted approximately 4 hours.
The assistant doubled my dose of dilation drops. The doctor took so long they had to dilate them again. They doubled the dose again.
Key staff members went home for the day before my appointment was over. Remaining staff did not know how to run the equipment.
I asked the Dr about the flashes of lights in my eyes. She said it was not a detached retina in my left eye and had no idea what it could be. Upon examining further, mentioned elevated eye pressure to her assistant.
Elevated eye pressure could be the cause, but she did not tell me that.
A PA said it was probably from my medication. I assured her it was not, because I stopped all medication to eliminate symptoms from side effects.
Elevated eye pressure causes flashing of lights in the eyes. Dilation drops increase eye pressure. I was given four drops in each eye! Staff at the practice did not seem well versed in eye care, when this is supposed to be their specialty. I already knew that I have optic nerve damage from my first cataract surgery. She ordered a blood test to try and find other reasons. She ordered test to check for arthritis, because a previous southwestern eye Doctor said that I had juvenile arthritis. He said he could tell just by looking in my eyes. She went so far as to have blood drawn to check for syphilis!
Once the eye numbing drops wore off I was in excruciating pain. I told them I suffer from light sensitivity and excruciating pain when exposed. It triggers migraines, eye socket pain and interocular pain.
It has been my experience that doctors at southwestern eye Center will not or do not address pain issues, even if they occurred after a surgery they performed. I was told the best they could do was have me put ice on my eye for 3 months.
Their doctors failed to prescribe pre-op eye drops before my cataract surgery. If they followed protocol, I would have known that I had a paridoxal reaction to prednisolone.
I saw every doctor at the highland office and was told to increase the dosage and they had me take it for over 3 months. They neglected my pain issues. They kept telling me to use ice packs or go to urgent care. Urgent care would not address the pain issues either. The drops were causing the swelling in my eye.
I paid them in advance for a recommended addition to the procedures on both eyes. They refused a refund on the second eye when I did not have surgery on it. Additionally, they refused me access to my records.
They did compensate me with a free pair of eyeglasses, which were useless because the prescription was wrong. My advice is to tape record your visits for evidence.
I reported them to my insurance company, and they lied saying I did not show up for follow-up appointments. This was a blatant lie and I recorded my follow-up visits because I was in pain that was not being addressed.
I give southwestern eye Center my full permission to post their response on this public forum.