Eye Doctors Of Washington

My exam was with Dr. Niyigena, she was kind, patient, smart, informative & extremely helpful! I felt lucky to have made the appointment with her! Then I sat with Mr. Gentry to pick out my glasses & he was just as kind, patient and all of the above! I took forever to make my decision & he didnt flinch! Everyone here at the office made me feel very comfortable! I will definitely recommend this practice to all my friends & I will always come back for my eye needs! Thank you all for your help!

I had PRK surgery with Dr. Clinch. I won the surgery and follow-​up care as part of the Washington Capitols’ Score Free Lasik promotion. There’s no obligation to write a review, but since I benefited from reading about others’ experiences with PRK, I wanted to share mine. I give a longer description of the surgery below, but my short review is: Go for it! My PRK surgery was easy and painless, and the EDOW team is terrific.
At my screening appointment, it was determined that I was a better candidate for PRK than Lasik. Dr. Clinch and the EDOW team were upfront about the fact that PRK has a longer recovery time than Lasik, and that some patients experience mild to acute pain (e.g. burning, itchy eyes) for a few days after the surgery. They also explained that everyone’s experience is different, and there’s no way to tell in advance exactly what someone’s recovery will be like. Since my correction was slight (I was nearsighted and wore glasses), they thought I’d have an easier time, but there were no guarantees. On the plus side, PRK has fewer side effects than Lasik, like dry eyes or corneal flap complications.
I decided to go ahead with the surgery, and scheduled it for the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend to give myself time to recover. On surgery day, they give you a Valium to help you relax and some numbing eye drops. There are snacks in the surgical waiting room (including freshly baked cookies!), and the coordinators give very clear verbal and written instructions about post-​op care. The surgery itself was quick and painless — Dr. Clinch explained everything that was happening and what to expect next. The most unpleasant part was the cold water bath they give each eye after the laser does its thing (it doesn’t hurt, just a strange sensation), but it’s over in a matter of seconds. The actual surgery took less than 10 minutes. Dr. Clinch escorted me back to the waiting room where my husband was (you need someone to drive you home), and advised me to take a Percocet before leaving and get some sleep once I was home. I had been a bit nervous before the surgery, but Dr. Clinch and his team made it easy.
Overall, I had a quick recovery. I spent most of surgery day sleeping. On day 2 (typically the toughest day), I experienced some light sensitivity, but very little pain. I used the comfort drops for numbing just once, and stuck to Advil rather than the Percocet. I was back at work by Tuesday after the holiday weekend. Dr. Clinch called twice to check in on me. He’s also seen me for all my follow-​up appointments thus far.
Vision improvement with PRK is gradual so I’m still waiting to see the final results of my surgery. I get some slight eye strain at the computer, but that should go away as my eyes heal. In all, my experience with EDOW has been amazing — I feel incredibly lucky not only to have won the surgery, but also to have had such an easy, painless recovery. Dr. Clinch and all the EDOW staff have been terrific: professional, upfront about the procedure, and genuinely concerned about my comfort and health.

I went in for a LASIK consultation and after waiting quite awhile, I had some measurements done only to be told by a nurse that I probably have some sort of eye condition. Once Dr. Clinch finally came in, he backtracked and said I probably didn’t have this condition, but before moving forward, he needed more information. So I scheduled a follow up appointment. In the second appointment, Dr. Clinch was incredibly condescending and rude to me. I asked reasonable questions about the condition and next steps and he told that I just needed to learn to be patient. I get that a doctor needs to have all the info before moving forward, but the manner in which he responded to my questions was uncalled for. I won’t be going back.

Dr. Clinch is Awesome! I had a situation with eye ulcers (horrible!) about 9 months ago and was referred here. I have nothing but great things to say about Dr. Clinch, DR. N– and all the staff with special shout outs to Cassie, Ruth and Kimberly! I never once felt rushed, no matter how many questions I had. I ended up having Lasik surgery and am amazed at how easy it was. I was completely terrified but everyone reassured me, answered all my questions, and made sure I was completely comfortable. Excellent Customer service every step of the way. Dr. Clinch even called me the evening after my procedure to make sure all was well. Why didn’t I do this 10 years ago? I recommend EDOW to anyone.

I had my LASIK surgery done with dr clinch in February and it has been absolutely amazing. The customer service at EDOW especially with Kim and dr clinch has been great. A week after my LASIK I was involved in a car accident and Kim scheduled me in right away and got back to me immediately to make sure I was ok. My eyes are doing great and dr clinch is very thorough during all of my post op exams. Would recommend EDOW to anyone looking for professional staff and good service.

DONT GO HERE! You’ll waste your time. Completely incompetent management and billing staff. I’ve been dealing with their billing staff for 4 months trying to get my correct bill. After 5 calls with the billing staff, they still haven’t billed me correctly. UNREAL.

I had a cataract removal surgery, performed by Dr. Clinch. Both the pre– and post-​operative care were extremely professional. Dr. Clinch and his staff are personable, very attentive, and they provided me with all the options available to me in an objective and agreeable manner. Their facilities are top-​notch, and Dr. Clinch seems to have a wealth of practical medical experience that he shares with his patients.
I have no second thoughts about recommending Dr. Clinch and Eye Doctors of Washington! I am truly enjoying my new vision — and I felt that I was in the hands of true experts that take great care about what they do.

Terrible all around.
For the second year in a row, I got my glasses made (at a place with good frames) and — oops — come to find out EDOW wrote the wrong prescription. TWICE this happened to me. Two separate offices, two separate years Unbelievable.
And it’s not kind of wrong (they tried to tell me I just need to «adjust to the glasses»). It’s a no glasses=kind of blurry, then put glasses on=sudden blindness kind of wrong.
Getting through to discuss the wrong prescription is a nightmare. You call some central desk, who takes a message and tells you someone will call. Should you happen to miss that call, you have to call back into the central desk and the entire unhelpful cycle begins again. I just want to make a freaking appt so they can fix it, but apparently they want to make that difficult too.
I will let them fix it, and then I will never return.

This was my first visit as I moved from Baltimore to Alexandria almost two years ago. My appt. was at 730am and because the blue line metro system sucks, I got there about 20mins late. Usually offices do not tolerate someone being late and usually will cancel and still charge you a fee. Fortunately, they still were able to see me.
Signing in, they have kiosks which is pretty cool and high tech; all you needed to do was scan your ID and insurance, which gathered your information and chose a few options on the screen. I waited for probably less than 5 minutes before a nice woman took me to the back to do the routine eye tests, take my pressure and dilate my eyes until the doctor was ready to see me.
The wait time from the time she dilated my eyes to when the doctor saw me was probably 10 mins bc my eyes needed to be dilated enough. Dr. Gess was very friendly and answered all of my questions. I am definitely a fan of this place.

Really disappointed in the customer service here. I showed up a few minutes late (16, to be exact) for a new patient appointment, because I didn’t realize how difficult parking would be. I was told by the woman at the front desk that if you’re more than 15 minutes late you need to reschedule. I was never told this ahead of time, by the way. And also, I was only ONE MINUTE past the 15 minute deadline. They insisted that I would need to come back a different day, so I told them I’d be finding a different doctor’s office.

EDOW is awful. The wait times on the phone and at their offices are too long. Staff is very unhelpful. But this latest experience really takes the cake…
I set up an appointment to have my glasses and contacts Rx updated. I arrived for my appointment and was informed that the doctor I was scheduled to see could only do glasses Rx – not contacts. What? I made a 2^nd appointment to see a doctor who could do both. When I arrived for my 2^nd appointment I was informed that the front desk has mis-​scheduled me, and I’d have to come back a 3^rd time.
Finally I saw the correct doctor on the correct day. Third time is a charm I guess? Doctor wrote me a new glasses Rx but said that the changes were so small, I probably didn’t need to update my glasses right away.
Fast forward several months and I decide to get new glasses. I call and ask to be sent my Rx. (Which they only do by snail mail, of course.) My Rx arrives a week and a half later and is expired! What the heck?!
Now EDOW won’t extend my Rx unless I come back in for another exam. I’m switching doctors.

I’ve been trying for two months to schedule my surgery, but their scheduler seems unable to do her job. Looks like I’ll be looking for a different doctor to do my surgery.
(Two weeks later) after telling my regular eye doctor what was going on, she contacted «Eye Doctors.» They contacted me and we worked out an appointment for my surgery. I appreciate them following up.

I was nervous to have LASIK and been canceled once, only to reschedule a few months later. Mostly I was nervous that I wouldn’t receive personal treatment and would be just another number in a long assembly line of patients.
However my experience was the exact opposite. Dr. Clinch was so encouraging and positive during the procedure and his staff were super before and after.
All my subsequent appointments have gone well. I can’t believe I waited so long to do this! I have perfect vision and I would recommend them to anyone.

I went eye doctors 4 times for dry eye and bump in side. Until today not yet solve my problem .
I have a busy business. Because took 4 times appointment, I lost business phone call and meeting. I still have a appointment with them. I am not sure if they should be solve my problem. I hope this is last time with them.

Dr. Clinch made an inconsistent diagnostic statement, then becomes defensive when asked for clarity, as if one should not expect a clear diagnosis. That’s his job. He is rushed all the time – I mean, rattles off everything he sees in the scope, then gets up to leave without even asking if you understood what he just said. Yes, gets up and opens the door to leave while your are grasping at all the medical lingo he just threw at you and what is the actual prognosis to be concerned about? That’s just poor and unacceptable patient care.
I also noted that my medical record states that certain things were stated by him to me and they were absolutely never stated, such as warnings about medications, and dilation refusal. I was not even asked about having a dilation and the record states I refused and was warned about refusing it. That never happened. There were other false statements on my record about conversations that had never ensued. I also received films that were insufficient to fully provide insight on my eye condition.
The benefit of putting up with a person that has a poor bedside manner and lack of communication skills, is to at least receive a quality medical diagnosis. He’s not a good diagnostician based upon my experience. He might have skills in other areas, I cannot speak to that, but I definitely will put my eyesight in the care of another ophthalmologist who has more compassion and concern about patient health, and can communicate medical issues effectively. Doesn’t he realize that people leave the office and have to make important decisions about their eyes and need accuracy and guidance? Apparently the next person waiting is more important than the one already in his office. What a disappointment. I have to begin all over again but I am not risking my eyesight with someone too rushed to discuss my care. I’ll find a better doctor. Goodbye and good luck!

Worst experience I have ever had with a doctors office. My appointment was in February, I arrived to the doctors office 10 minutes early (as most doctors instruct you to do). I then proceeded to wait over an hour to be taken back to the office, then waited another 25 minutes to be seen. I missed a business phone call I had scheduled because it took so long.
If only that was all that happened.
A few weeks later I proceeded to order contacts via 1−800-contacts, through submitting my RX to them they realized that there was a discrepancy between the EDOW had written and what I submitted in their forms. Eye Doctors of Washington had written me an incorrect RX. I called them to ask them about this, no one answered so I left a message… they never returned my phone call (that seems to be a trend). Thankfully 1 – 800 contacts actually understand what the words «customer service» means, because they called me back to let me know EDOW mistake had been fixed.
Fine, mistakes happens, I get that. But then a few months later I decided to order a new pair of glasses using Warby Parker. The way their system works they reach out directly to the doctor to get the RX. And apparently Eye Doctors of Washington didn’t even bother to CORRECT MY FILES when they submitted the wrong RX the first time. I called them again, and again they never called me back.
So that all done with… now it’s 5 months after my appointment, and I receive a BILL in the mail from them. Apparently they had my address incorrect. I spoke to their outsourced billing department about this issue and they told me the address they previously had on file, it was my former address out of state. And this is ironic because when you arrive to an appointment at EDOW they make you fill out all of your information on a touch screen computer and they scan your health insurance card. APPARENTLY their office completely ignores the address information you actually submit by hand, and replaces it with whatever is on your drivers license. And anyone who has recently been in college or moved to a new place to start a new job knows, those very frequently are NOT the same.
So I decided to call their office to speak with them about this issue, I also was looking at a bill I was fairly certain I had already paid at the time of my appointment. (I’m currently waiting to receive a credit card statement from February to make sure I’m now not paying it twice, but it’s so far back it’s having to be mailed to me).
I waited on hold for over 15 minutes, knowing full well that the previous times I had left a message they never called back. All of a sudden, after waiting on hold all that time, their phone system sent me to the voicemail box. I left a message.
That was over a week ago, they still haven’t called me back.
I will not be returning to Eye Doctors of Washington. The blatant lack of the most basic levels of professionalism by their staff is astounding.

Had my first visit today and had an all around great experience. Some of the friendliest front desk staff I’ve encountered. Efficient, knowledgable tech. Very thorough and personable doctor. Two thumbs up!
UPDATE: Today was my 3^rd visit over the past year and I definitely rate this practice as one of the more thorough eye doctors I’ve been to. They have appropriately scheduled follow-​up and referred me to specialists and the overall office experience is very pleasant. I had a quick, easy visit. Everyone was professional, friendly, helpful and the Dr. spent time with me to talk about concerns/​next steps. Overall, I enjoy going to the eye doctor here which is something I can’t say for all doctors I visit!

EXHORBITANT pricing for a regular eye exam– more than double the prices and almost triple what I’ve paid at others in the area. Definitely go somewhere else if it’s just a routine visit and you don’t have very comprehensive insurance. The visit itself was satisfactory as I had done research and read great things about Chantal Garcia, but it does not warrant the ridiculous pricing.

I showed up about 30 minutes before my scheduled appointment to allow myself time to fill out forms as a first time patient. It took about 20 minutes to get everything filled out via the electronic kiosk — yes, that’s right, no paper and clipboard. I scanned my driver’s license and entered in my plan number since my eye insurance does not send out hard copies of our ids. If you have a hard copy of your insurance card, you can have it scanned as well by the kiosk, of which there are two near the receptionist’s office.
First impressions are that it’s a small office and the waiting area is a tight squeeze. For the eight seats, I probably rotated between 2 – 4 chairs because as soon as I’d get up, whether it was to speak with the receptionist or to check out the eyewear selection, someone else had taken the chair. On top of that, people left their coats and took up seating space.
Although my appointment was for 10:45 am, the office was running late so it took 25 minutes before I was brought back.
I will note that when my eyes were being checked, the technician was interrupted twice. Both times, the person (s) just walked in without knocking. The second time the interruption lasted 12 minutes, and there was no apology for the interruption or delay. I was in the first exam room for 38 minutes (including the 12 minute interruption.) My eyes were dilated, and the technician answered my questions and asked me to wait in the back waiting room.
I was there for four minutes before being brought to another exam room. When she eventually came in, Dr. Garcia immediately introduced herself and shook my hand and apologized for the delay. She answered my questions about glaucoma and other eye concerns clearly and demonstrated a deft knowledge of optometry. She checked my eyes for glaucoma by measuring optical nerve pressure and explained the differences between an ophthalmologist and an optometrist (basically the former does surgery; the latter does contacts) and she noted she specialized in medical contacts. Not once did she look away from speaking with me and was fantastic about maintaining eye contact and speaking articulately. She told me they didn’t carry my specific prescription in trial contacts and had to order them specially. In the meantime, she asked me to try another pair which was pretty close and gave me a 5 day supply. Dr Garcia shook my hand again when the exam was finished.
By 12:48 pm, I had paid and was out the door. The person who reviewed the charges with me told me when the contacts would be available (next Wednesday). I am happy to note the contacts were available a day before they said they would be, and the office was having a late day so I was able to stop in around 4:30 pm and pick them up yesterday.

Prior to LASIK, I had strong prescription for 14 years. I am someone who cannot handle confinement so the thought of a procedure involving my eyes & no movement was horrifying to me!
That was IMMEDIATELY put to rest after my first visit to the Eye Doctors of Washington Office.
The entire staff is extremely warm and more importantly knowledgeable (almost predicted my questions before I asked). I cannot thank Misty, Brenda, Kim, Katie & Dr. Gess enough for their hospitality & professionalism throughout the entire process!
My experience was seamless, personalized & quick. I HIGHLY recommend them to anyone thinking of having anything done to their eyes. They were flexible with which office I would be seen at and at what times.
My pre-​op appt was easy and quick! I never felt rushed and the Dr. took time answering all of my questions. He made sure i was 100% comfortable with how the procedure would happen.
The day of LASIK I was very nervous– the entire staff made sure I felt comfortable and was not rushed.
Following LASIK, the Dr. himself called the night of to make sure I was doing fine. I could not say enough good things about my experience with them! For the first time in 14 years I wake up every day being able to see clearly! THANK YOU EDoW!