optometrist reccomendation requests

[jadelennox]

I'm looking for optometrist (and, possibly, ophthalmologist recs), specifically from people who:

• have a very strong prescription and/or otherwise fairly problematic vision
• wear glasses, not exclusively contacts
• and have been unhappy with previous optometrists but are happy now

Obviously I'm hoping to find someone T-accessible from the greater Davis neighborhood (Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington).

Specifically I want someone who will not urge me to squint and strain during the eye tests to recognize letters, and then tell me I can see them fine because I recognized them, and someone who will straight up tell me if certain problems are uncorrectable, instead of gaslighting me that everything is fine.

I'm currently at Parelli, where (with Dr. Seligman) I'm the least unhappy I've ever been with optometrists, but I feel like I should aim for better than "least unhappy." And my opthalmology is at Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston where I am profoundly underwhelmed.

(For what it's worth, the optician at Parelli, Matt, is fantastic.)

Comments

[teko]

I definitely do NOT recommend Dr Sylvia at Parelli. When I had my eye exam, he came in a half hour late, looked at his list of patients waiting, and told me "okay, let's hurry it up," and did my exam in less than ten minutes. When I asked if he'd skipped anything, he just said "no," and sent me on my way. The glasses I've gotten with his prescription have not been good at all.

I had a much better experience with Dr. Crystal Klaassen at General Optical on Mass Ave. Very professional and did a terrific job.

[jadelennox]

that's good to know about Doctor Sylvia. I never went to him for a completely shallow reason -- when he was in private practice, the ads he had on the T creeped me the heck out. I admit that when I posted the question I was afraid everyone was going to say, "Doctor Sylvia is the best!" and I would have to get over the other thing.

I will check out Doctor Klaassen. Thanks!

[rmd]

I've also had good results over at General Optical.

[cassandra_beach]

I used to go to Parelli (with Dr. Seligman). I saw her a few times and was not impressed – particularly when, after a period of unemployment, I had to go on MassHealth for a year or so and she treated me shabbily, like I was a deadbeat.

I go to Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston for treatment of idiopathic macular degeneration by Dr. Torsten Wiegand. He has been great. Based on that experience, I went to a Dr Nisha Patel at OCB for an eye exam in order to get glasses and she was awful. Lots of attitude and she gave me an eyeglass prescription which did not include a pupillary distance measurement – which made it harder for me to order glasses online. Maybe I'm stupid and uninformed but I expected a prescription I could use. I ended up calling Parelli and having to badger them into giving me the pupillary distance measurement they had on file for me.

It's a MA state law: "What your optometrist doesn’t want you to know"
https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2017/03/21/why-your-optometrist-doesn-want-you-know-your/k6FHsubxjTB2oYxeqBFD7L/story.html

Anyway. . . guess I don't have any good suggestions for you 😃

[jadelennox]

What are you saying? Those are terrific suggestions.

First of all, I didn't know any of that about the information you can get from your optometrist. Secondly, it's good to be reassured that there are different experiences with different OCB doctors. I see Dr. Heier, and I spent a year basically feeling seriously gaslit. He would say "it's very important that you call me as as you have problems" and then I would call him and he would say "your eyes are splendid!" It took forever to get out of him that what he meant was "I have corrected everything I can safely correct, and your retina is no longer about to fall off, and so the fact that the vision in your right eye is like looking through a blob of Vaseline is of no concern to me."

also I'm really sorry about that experience with Doctor Seligman. That's not cool at all.

[teko]

Every ophthalmologist I've had has given me a huge hassle or outright refused to give me my pupillary distance.

[siderea]

Well, my vision rx is not extremely strong, but I am a glasses wearer who has had weird-ass problems with intolerance to certain attempts at vision correction for reasons we haven't figured out, and I went through a string of opthalmologists who were really terrible.

But a friend turned me on to Dr. Ajoian at Harvard Vanguard in Davis, and I think she's just lovely to work with. Telling people to try harder during an eye exam seems very much antithetical to her style. I particularly appreciate how accommodating she is, and how willing she is to explain things in whatever depth I want; she seems to be a very straight shooter.

ETA: Re optometrists: Avoid the Harvard Vanguard optical shop like it's on fire. I'm not sure whether I'm in a position to recommend the place I now go, because I haven't really exercised them very hard yet, but the folks at Harvard Square Eye Care in Davis (on Elm across from Posto) seem very nice and helpful.

[jadelennox]

weird-ass problems and a spring of terrible ophthalmologists means that you are exactly the right person to be helping.

I'm so used to thinking of Harvard Vanguard is a place you can only go to if you have Harvard insurance, but that hasn't been true in forever, has it? I will look up Dr. Ajoian, thank you!

(also advice definitely taken regarding the optical shop, thanks.)

[siderea]

I don't think it's ever been true; I think the name was largely to capitalize on the cache of both the university and Harvard Pilgrim health insurance, which they were maybe once affiliated with.

But I've never had either, and I've been at HV for about a decade now. :)

The website is barely admitting to the existence of Dr. Ajoian, so I think maybe she isn't taking new patients. :( Try calling Ophthalmology directly. Somerville HV main num: 617-629-6000, navigate the phone tree.

Seconding the rec for Dr. Ajoian

[davisdenizen]

I've gone to her for many years now. She's absolutely lovely -- direct and kind and very unpushy while still being utterly professional.

Dr. Klaahsen: definitely!

[garyo]

Dr. Klaahsen and the entire staff at General Optical (near Porter) are wonderful. Nice people, helpful, knowledgeable.

[ruthling]

i like Dr LaMalva at EyeBar Boston: http://www.eyebarboston.com/ which is near state street and downtown crossing t-stations I wear glasses, have a very strong prescription and potentially other issues.

[ron_newman]

I really liked Dr. Seilgman. I would still be her patient if I hadn't had a retinal detachment and cataracts, which required me to make Mass Eye & Ear my primary optical provider. I still get my glasses at Parrelli.

[miraclaire]

This is a bit further-afield, but happens to be right across the street from a 77 bus stop, so may be ok -- after years of underwhelming eye care experiences, I just had a really awesome experience at Bennett Family Eye Care's new Arlington location. I saw Dr. Bennett, and when she started with "Have you ever worn contacts?" and I answered with my weary "Yes, for 6 months, they were really painful and I know the technology has come a long way but I'm not interested." she replied with "Yeah, I was just curious because looking at the shape of your eye here I would guess they wouldn't be very comfortable for you, and that's not something the newer contacts would solve." I felt So. Damn. Validated. I cannot even tell you. She also noticed something slightly weird about my face structure that meant she needed to adjust my prescription some so I was getting the full effect of what I was supposed to be, and it's the best prescription I've had in years. I will definitely be going back.

[jeffbyrnes]

It’s a fair distance from Davis, but I’ve been going to Newbury Visions & seeing Dr. Tanlamai for 15 years, and he is just great. He & Dr. Prem run the shop together, and are just splendid, kind people.

I recently switched to seeing Dr. Murphy at Custom Eyes in Central Sq b/c I work nearby, and we moved up near Porter, though I’ve only seen her once for an exam.

I have middling-poor myopia, but otherwise no difficulties, so perhaps not enough experience to recommend for your case, but both doctors I’ve seen have been great. Maybe helpful, but at Newbury Visions, the optometrists (Dr. Tanlamai & Dr. Prem) handle the optician duties as well.