Michael L Gilbert, MD

Nice Doctor and staff.
They give a very thorough exam.
They take their time to answer any questions and you don’t feel like they’re rushing you through.

I had cataracts. I opted for the expensive, $ 20,000 lens; $ 10k paid by me and 10k by my insurer. It seems that I talked w/​people other than the doctor about decisions that I should have spoke w/​the Doctor about. I got a Tecnis multi-​focal lens in one eye and the «halos» were a little bothersome at night. The billing lady said that I should get the Crystalens in the other eye. Later I did. If I’d gotten them in the opposite order, it might have worked better because the eye must «learn» to adjust the crystalens and it just hasn’t. Now I must force myself to read and I’ve dropped from a book every other week to two books a year. I finally broke down and got some reading glasses. I’m not even sure that they put the right lenses in. The (very) young lady who took the measurements seemed confused by the machine and had to do one measurement several times.
On the Surgery side, Dr Gilbert is VERY experienced and VERY safe. You could easily do MUCH worse.

It’s strange there are so many bad reviews, mostly about his personality. As an engineer, I guess I expect a medical professional to have something of a science-​geek vibe.
What you will get: a very knowledgeable and professional opthamologist, top of his field, with excellent skills. He is THE MAN for troublesome eye cases, and super accurate with his LASIK procedures.
What you will not get: a hug during your appointment. Live with it.

I have been seeing Dr. Gilbert almost yearly since the 90’s. Though I have not had any serious problems with my eyes, Dr. Gilbert, his high-​tech facilities and staff have been competent at checking and tracking my progress.
Like other reviewers, I have had problems with extensive wait times. These waits have gotten progressively worse in the past four years or so. This year I probably waited 20 – 30 minutes in the lobby just to see a ‘technician’ to have my glasses prescription updated, then another 20 minutes to ‘almost’ see Dr. Gilbert… I was almost given one of his exam rooms to wait in, but another patient was shuffled in that was supposed to be after me, the helper apologized. I had to wait in another side area the side of a closet (sadly not the first time this has happened) for another 15 – 20 minutes just to get a coveted exam room. I finally got the exam room. He came in and checked my eyes for about 5 – 10 minutes and gave me a somewhat insincere sounding «sorry about the wait» with a little smile.
My time is money too, and having to spend 2 hours to see the eye doctor when it should be one hour max is unacceptable. I hope Dr. Gilbert and his office gets their act together and stops overbooking patients. I hate to have to find another doctor and have all my records transferred, but I will if this problem keeps happening.
Another thing I don’t like is that they now print out your prescription on an 8.5×11″ piece of paper instead of the handy business card sized prescription you can carry in a wallet. Who wants to carry that around in case of emergency? I just took a picture of it with my phone for now. Just another way to shuffle the patients through the production line I guess…

There needs to be a zero-​stars option. This guy is rude and creepy and rough. There are plenty of good options out there — I was sent here for an emergency situation. I really wish I’d had a taser with me. If you insist on going, take someone with you and have them stay by your side the entire time.

Please don’t see this doc. My wife saw him for a basic exam and it went well. While in the exam she mentioned that I had extremely dry eyes. He said to her, «I can cure his dry eyes.» This statement unfortunately led me to make an appointment. After 8 visits, each of which i found unpleasant and frustrating, I realized that if he had any strategy at all, it was for me to become a stream of income. Most importantly, he seemed to be suffering from early stages of alzheimers /​dementia.
He never smiled at me once, barely listened, and was very focused on telling me how things were going to be done. In most appointments he was looking for a new salve or drop to put into my eye. When he began to look through the myriad of pharmaceutical samples on his exam tables, he always had trouble finding the one he needed and more than once made an accusation that one or more of his assistants were stealing his expensive samples. His assistants were quite tolerant of his rants, and all very nice, but he is not in the right frame of mind to be practicing.
The last straw for was that after installing one set of plugs in my tear ducts, he told me to come back for another set if the first did not fix the problem. When I returned he refused to give me the additional plugs. He instead wanted me to pay for very expensive treatments with a machine he had just bought that were supposed to fix poor performing tear glands with heat and pressure. I went home and googled this process — it seemed that most reviews indicated that it was useless — and expensive.
His other reviews seem to indicate that he was once a great doc. I think his age and health are rapidly catching up to him and he needs to quickly retire.

I have been having an issue with double vision for most of my life. A co-​worker referred me to Northwest Vision. I ended up making an appointment with Dr. Gilbert (the referral was to a different doctor).
Dr. Gilbert was great, funny, personable, thorough and knew exactly the issue I was having and for the first time I got a prescription that actually worked for me!
My fiancé liked Dr. Gilbert so much that this year he decided to NOT see his previous doctor and make an appointment. Not only did Dr. Gilbert find what no other doctor was able to diagnosis. My fiancé couldn’t say enough good things about Dr. Gilbert.
After the appointment he even called his mom who is looking for a new eye doctor that she needs to come and see Dr. Gilbert.
He is the only eye doctor I would want to see and even waited two months longer to be able to see Dr. Gilbert.

I first went to Dr. Gilbert after my eye doctor told me during a routine exam that I had cataracts and could benefit from surgery. I had one eye operated on and then the other eye two weeks later. I found the office staff to be very informative and pleasant; the facilities are clean and modern and the parking is easy in Bellevue. Most importantly, Dr. Gilbert took the time to explain to me the procedure before I scheduled any surgery; he told me what to expect during the surgery as well as during the following weeks. It all went exactly as he had described. Kathy, the wonderful surgery scheduler in the Bellevue office, answered any additional questions I had, and was very helpful during the scheduling process. The cataract surgery took place at Overlake Hospital’s Outpatient Surgery Center. The nurses there were friendly, helpful and very professional. During the surgery, Dr. Gilbert described to me what he was doing, which I found comforting. I was very pleasantly surprised when late that afternoon, Dr. Gilbert called me at home to ask how I was doing and if I had any questions! I really appreciated that he took the time to make the call himself. I had no reservations about returning to Overlake and Dr. Gilbert for my other eye. Both surgeries went very well. I highly recommend Dr. Gilbert. I also found the staff in both the contact lens department and the optical department at Northwest Vision to be very knowledgeable and helpful.

Arrogent, self centered, and condescending. Went for an eye exam, which he did not even do, one of his staff did, this is what I am paying for? This guy seems to be into pain, pushing on parts of the eye, that caused considerable pain. Same with my wife who also had an appointment following mine.
Dr Gilbert and and the team seem to be more interested in pushing Omega 3 fish oil pills than providing quality eye care. Every one I spoke to or came in contact with started selling Omega 3, they all must be on commission or need to sell a quota to keep there jobs. Dr. Gilbert even give me an «over the counter prescription» for the fish oil, signed and dated, wow thats impressive. First Over the Counter I have ever had.
Wont be back there are to many good caring Dr’s that don’t make a living selling fish oil.

Skillful is probably unquestionable. People skill is negative.
As far as I understand, a good doctor is not only just skill set.
He is a big stuck up.
He looked in my eyes. He looked into my mom’s eye. He looked into my dad’s eyes. But, he does not look at none of us as a whole, as a person. He did not care for others worries and feeling about their sickness. There is no time for questions. At times, my mom asked for the same question once. He said, «Did I not mention that to you already.» How rude! He just want to jump from room to room to catch up with his schedules.
At the surgery days, we have to wait for hours for his present without any explanation.
A couple of his staff act like him too.
I just want to get in and out as quickly as possible and never see him again. There are many good doctors out there.

Last Monday morning I had an apointment with Dr. Gilbert for what I thought was a minor concern in my left eye. My appt. was at 7:30. By 8 he had diagnosed my concern as a detached retina. By 9am he had me in the office of a specialist. By 10 my surgery had been scheduled at Overlake Hospital.
Words are not enough to express my thanks to Dr. Gilbert (and his staff) for recognizing my concern as a critical medical condition. Recovery from the surgery was simple. But the gas bubble in my eye will take weeks (or months) to disappear.
Dr. Gilbert has quick to determine the problem and jumped into action. THANK YOU.

I recently had a surgery done at this clinic. I have worn glasses and contacts all my life and had the opportunity to have the ICL surgery (Implantable Contact Lens.) I was really scared to have the surgery but I had always heard great things about Dr. Gilbert, and my grandparents also had cataract surgery with him as well. The day of my surgery I was a little nervous and everyone there was so caring and made sure I was comfortable, also during the surgery Dr. Gilbert talked to me and made sure I was doing OK. I was AMAZED with my outcome after the surgery!!! I can see better than I did with my contacts on. I would recommend this surgery and vision clinic to everyone I know!!! A+ from me for sure :)

Dr. Gilbert is great but, as someone else mentioned, his office is like a production line… it’s true. You get handed off from one person to another to another and in between those hand offs you wait in different small waiting areas. When I was there the staff explained very little to me and just went through the motions of the tests they were doing and then sent me back to one of the waiting areas. Dr. Gilbert was nice, you can tell he knows his stuff, but my visit with him was very rushed and I left with a lot of questions unanswered. When I made a follow up appointment to see him (at his request) the front desk screwed it up and made me an appointment just to see a tech instead… when I got there, saw the tech, and was told I couldnt see Dr. Gilbert I asked about it they didn’t apologize they just said he wasn’t there that day and it’s very hard to make an appointment with him. I was a little shocked at that since I was already an established patient and Dr. Gilbert had requested me to come in to see him for a follow up.
Again, I’m not knocking Dr. Gilbert but his office staff kind of sucks and I am sure the techs there are all very knowledgeable but a little more explanation and friendliness goes a long way.
Since this is a review of Dr. Gilbert and not his staff/​office I am giving him 3 stars but his staff/​office would get a much worse rating.

Being selected as Top Doctor by the Seattle Magazine is a great thing for Dr. Gilbert, but for the patients it’s sometimes a double edge sword. By having such publicity, the demand for Dr. Gilbert’s services inevitably goes up and that means the place will need to be able to accommodate the increase in demand. As a result, the place felt like a production line and you’re handed off from one person to another in a rather mechanical fashion. I guess this frees up Dr. Gilbert’s time so that he see more patient. Just as long as you don’t expect a small clinic and close attention, you’ll be fine. Dr. Gilbert is really knowledgeable though, no doubts on his abilities as a doctor.
I would have given this place a 5 star if it wasn’t for all the upselling that takes place. Upsell to do the optomap that no insurance will cover. Upsell to Lasik. These were just some of the stuff I encountered. You can obviously decline on any of these, but they do push hard.

Dr. Gilbert is the only eye doctor ever allowed to do anything to my eyes, until/​unless he retires and sends me to someone of his choosing. I have a somewhat rare and debilitating eye disease called keratoconus, and in late 1998, was declared legally (and functionally) blind. I had to stop driving and couldn’t read normal print. Life sucked… how can a technical writer survive if they can’t READ?
Dr. Gilbert did my first cornea transplant in February of 1999. Within a week of the procedure, I was getting ²⁰⁄₃₀ vision in that eye without correction. To call it a miracle underestimates the impact on my life.
I had my second cornea transplant (the other eye) in May of 2004 and it has also gone well. Now I have ²⁰⁄₂₀ uncorrected in the first transplant and ²⁰⁄₃₀ in the second. I can go through life without glasses if I want, though I usually choose to use them at the computer and for reading. I can see my daughter. I can walk and drive and thread a needle and do everything that normal people do that requires vision. Dr. Gilbert very literally gave me my life back.
So now that you know he’s a miracle worker, let’s talk about the nuts and bolts. His office facilities are excellent. They have all of the latest diagnostic and testing equipment. He works hard to make sure that all the staff are well-​trained and courteous. His insurance gals do a good job and the in-​office opticians are helpful (though I prefer Market Optical because they are even more trendy — see my review).
Sometimes they run late. Try not to get mad about this. Dr. Gilbert does a lot of eye surgery, and if someone has a problem or pain and needs to be seen right away, they are seen that day, and that means that other appointments will run late. I’ve been the schedule disrupter a few times when some of the stitches in my transplanted corneas have needed to come out, so I try to be patient when it’s someone else’s turn. The best way to avoid this is to be the first appointment in the morning at 8-​something or to be the first appointment after lunch (1 pm).
Dr. Gilbert’s not just about eye surgery. He’s also fantastic for routine eye care. He can seem professional and distant sometimes, but he is very passionate about his work and cares deeply about his patients.

Dr. Gilbert was listed as one of Seattle’s Top Doctors of 2005 in Seattle Magazine.
Dr. Gilbert is a wonderful doctor in my opinion — and his staff if second to NONE! All of the members on his team are caring individuals who strive to give great customer service and answer all of my questions.
I have also been seen by his associate — Dr. Kitamura, who is fantastic as well!
Joanne is the name of the woman who recently helped me over the holidays when I accidently ran out of my «daily contacts» — she kept the lines of communication open with me as she was working on my urgent order! She called to confirm my prescription with me and even paid for the extra costs of express shipping. Instead of receiving my contacts on Dec. 27^th like she had originally estimated — she had them shipped express and I had them on December 24^th! Just in time!
This is a first rate establishment, located right off the NE 8^th exit in Bellevue!