Troy Elander Md's Online Review Report Card

Always returns calls the same day if it is necessary. His staff is professional & helpful. I am grateful for the excellent work he has done on my eye.

I cannot say enough good things about Dr. Elander and his whole staff! My primary ophthalmologist is actually his partner Dr. Karimi, who I absolutely adore, but she referred me to Dr. Elander when I suddenly developed very severe cataracts (as a side effect of long term cancer medications) and needed surgery--because "Dr. Elander is the best!" :)First of all I so appreciated the fact that Dr. Elander validated my need for this surgery and confirmed the fact that I wasn't crazy, since my eyesight was diminishing by the day, and I'm about 20 years younger than the average cataract patient. Second of all, both he and his staff made the process so seamless. From setting up the surgery with the surgery center to having the eye drop prescriptions delivered (free of charge) to my house, to arranging for the required Covid test pre-surgery...they took care of it all and also sent extremely clear and detailed instructions for pre and post surgery. As for the surgery itself, I have had many surgeries and this was by far my most favorite and best surgery ever (as if you can even say that about surgery in the first place). It can be pretty daunting to know that someone is making incisions in your corneas, but Dr. Elander is SO calm, confident, and amazing at what he does that he took all the anxiety and fear out of the procedure. He explained everything that was going to happen and he and the OR staff at the surgery center were kind and warm and gentle. There was absolutely no pain involved whatsoever, the recovery process was so easy, and the follow-up care was extremely thorough. Dr. Elander called me the night of (both of) my surgeries to see how I was doing and if I had any questions, which I really appreciated.But the best part of all is that Dr. Elander gave me back my eyesight after a year of cloudiness and haze. I can see perfectly again, which is a total relief and something I will never ever take for granted! It's a truly miraculous surgery and while I know some people complain about the higher cost of the laser surgery that is not covered by insurance...for me personally, the cost was far outweighed by the knowledge that a (much) safer procedure would also give me the ability to have clear vision again. And that's worth it's weight in gold. I will be forever grateful to Dr. Elander for his expertise, competence and skill--and to the whole staff for helping to make my cataract surgery such a positive experience. I will happily refer everyone I know to Dr. Elander for cataract surgery!

I'm a returning customer. When I came for my yearly checkup the receptionist told me that I am late and they cannot see me, despite being 10 minutes ahead of time. They refused to see me no matter how much I asked and only offered to reschedule. I went home thinking that maybe I got the time wrong. Annoying but happens. Alas earlier today I finally received a voicemail that was recorded a few days ago, where the receptionist asked to move my appointment 30 minutes earlier!!You see, they changed my appointment without my permission, left a voicemail to inform me, and when I showed up, they tried to make me doubt my memory instead of apologizing. Bad service, lack of basic decency

I recently had amazing results from cataract surgeries by Dr.Elander. The procedures were painless and my recovery quick. I want to thank Dr. Leander and his staff for their professionalism, their thoroughness, and their friendliness.

Please see my one star review on Yelp with the opening sentence DO NOT LET HIM TALK YOU INTO THE LASER FOR CATARACT SURGERY! ! ! It describes my awful experience and the problems I still have seven months after surgery.

DO NOT LET HIM TALK YOU INTO THE LASER FOR CATARACT SURGERY! ! ! He gave me a big sales pitch - said it was a wonderful technical advance, safer and more accurate than the traditional method and that it could cure astigmatism. The cost would be $1,750 out of pocket in addition to what the insurance would pay. I thought of friends who'd had cataract surgery with the traditional method with excellent results so I said no thanks, but as part of their initial paperwork they took my credit card number and had me sign a release to allow the use of the laser "just in case" I changed my mind. I researched it online and found that the government (NIH) had done an overview of all the research studies done comparing results of laser v. traditional method and found no significant difference between the results. On the day of surgery I was lying on the gurney ready to be wheeled in when Elander suddenly popped into the room saying he'd heard I didn't want the laser and asked why. I told him what I'd found out and he said, "Oh, I wouldn't want you to not use the laser just because of something you read on the internet." Well, there I was on the gurney, nervous, scared about the surgery, at my most vulnerable, and you want to believe and trust the guy who's about to slice your eye open, right? So I said okay to the laser. I was awake during the procedure and could feel when they attached my eye to the laser. Something clamped down hard on my eye and then there was a sudden painful suction, LIKE MY EYEBALL WAS BEING SUCKED OUT OF ITS SOCKET. I screamed. Someone said, "it's all right". The whole thing took less than a minute. I found out later that as soon as the procedure was over Elander's $1,000 "FEE" was charged to my credit card and dropped automatically into his pocket. I shouldn't have had any pain after the surgery but during the days that followed my eye hurt so much I had to keep it closed most of the time, and by my post-op appointment ten days later it wasn't any better. Elander said it was "dry" and SOLD me some tears to use four times a day and said to come back in a month. When I told my primary care doctor about this he told me to go immediately to the UCLA Jules Stein urgent care eye clinic. The UCLA doctor said the surface of my eye looked like IT HAD BEEN RUBBED WITH SANDPAPER. Her diagnosis was keratitis. She told me to use tears as often as I wanted - 4 times an hour if needed - and to use gel twice a day and before bed and to apply warm compresses for pain. She referred me to another UCLA doctor for ongoing care. On the day Elander had examined my eye I'd asked him if I had any macular degeneration. He'd said, "tjat isn't important now". My new doctor told me that I have macular degeneration without my having asked her. She had me tested and found enough of a problem to refer me to a retina specialist. I asked Elander to refund the money I'd given him for the laser. He agreed to refund his "fee" - $1,000. The surgery center also refunded their $750. It is now seven months after surgery. I still have astigmatism, my eye is super light sensitive, and I still have to use the tears and gel.

I did not have a good experience. Doctor appeared rushed, appeared annoyed at my questions, did not appear to be listening, did not appear to provide empathy or support. I felt like an unimportant number. He has the knowledge, but he appeared from my own experience, not to have a very good manner with patients. I was extremely disappointed.

Always on time visits Very knowledgeable and patient

BEST for recognizing complications of catoract removable and what yo do about it.

I chose the expensive lens and the laser treatment, not covered by medicare. Results were awful - my vision not improved (yes, cataract removed) but vision worse than before and not as advertised to have nice distance vision. My eye sees only blurred vision!! Will now have to seek other options either w/Dr Elander or another doctor!!!