John P Carlson, MD

Bluntly put, Dr. Carlson and Retina Consultants of Southern California have saved my vision… twice… once recently! And thank you for it! I can’t give enough praise to him and his colleague, Dr. Pesavento.
I was born with cataracts. At ages 19/​20, I had them removed and ocular lens implants put in. But what the Dr’s of that time neglected to tell me was that a possible, rare, long-​term side effect is retinal detachment.
About 10 years ago, the retina in my right eye almost completely detached. I went almost completely blind in that eye. Dr. Carlson was there for me; telling me exactly what was wrong, what needed to be done, and to expect in the coming weeks. He performed a procedure called a Scleral Buckle Vitectomy within weeks later, my vision was restored to ²⁰⁄₈₀ (corrected). Far, far better then blindness.
Then, a few weeks ago — I started having symptoms in my left…“good”…eye. Needless to say I was scared — so I got a referral to him as quickly as I could and found out the retina in my left eye was beginning to detach. He performed a Vitrectomy in that eye and re-​attached the retina. That was on Sept. 16. and today. a little more than two weeks later, the vision in my left eye has almost completely restored to what it once was. Both surgeries were outpatient procedures and I was put very much at ease by everyone involved.
Dr. Carlson and Dr. Pesavento run a very efficient office without making you feel rushed or in a hurry. They are very skilled at what they do: treatment and surgery of the vitreous and retina of the eye. Their «bedside manner» is kind and knowledgeable. They encourage their patients to ask as many questions as they need to in order to be informed and comfortable.
If you or a loved one have problems with this portion of the eye, I highly. highly recommend you get a referral to here. They know their stuff and will do their best to help you.

I just had my annual retina examination by Dr. Carlson, and emerged with another clean bill of eye health. In fact, my vision improved slightly since last year. Dr. Carlson is one of two ophthalmologists that operate and rotate among three offices in the Inland Empire known as Retina Consultants of Southern California. They are very specialized specialists, limiting their practice to medical and surgical diseases of the retina and vitreous. In fact, the field of medicine has now become so specialized that if your cornea is becoming cloudy you have to go to a cornea specialist somewhere else. If you are interested in Lasik surgery to improve your vision, you need to go to a different type of eye surgeon. But, if you need some attention drawn to your retina or vitreous, Dr. Carlson is your man.
Dr. Carlson is superb in his chosen field. Known as one of the foremost retina specialists in Southern California, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Loma Linda University Medical Center, he receives referrals from numerous primary care physicians, and it now takes about 4 to 6 weeks to schedule an appointment with him. But it is worth the wait. He really knows retinas, is deft at surgery as my wife can attest, and has a very personable and caring manner. And, his office runs like a well-​oiled machine.
After signing in upon arrival, in about 20 minutes a patient will be warmly greeted by a staff member who will then administer a tough eye test using an eye chart that features about 10 lines down and about 20 letters across. And, a testee will be asked to recount aloud every single one of those letters viewed on a line from left to right, with one eye covered; and then asked to do it again with the other eye covered. Trying to memorize the letters on this eye chart in advance of testing is not even worth the effort!
Blood pressure will be checked, along with eye pressure. Then eyes will be dilated, followed by a return to the central waiting room. About 20 minutes after this series of events, the patient will be guided into a room dedicated to close-​up photography of the eyes. Contrasting color images of both retinas will then be taken and recorded on a special, very expensive machine, and the film images will be immediately shown to Dr. Carlson for his review. The patient will then be seated in an examination room, and less than 5 minutes later Dr. Carlson will enter and conduct a detailed examination of both retinas. Feedback from the photos and examination will be immediate and understandable in layman’s terms.
I left Dr. Carlson’s office in a better mood than when I entered. In fact, I now look forward to and almost enjoy these once-​a-​year visits.