Sarah P Read Md's Online Review Report Card

Re: Dr. Raymond Wee-Over the past two years I have needed to see a retina specialist for an ongoing eye issue. Out of the several different doctors I have seen for this condition, on Kauai, Oahu and the Mainland, I prefer Dr. Wee. I always feel I am getting the best diagnosis, analysis of my tests and treatment. He is easy to talk to and always asks if I have any further questions. I never feel rushed; he is very thorough and I trust him with my vision care. I also appreciate that he and his excellent staff travel to Kauai to care for so many.

I have been going here for several years. My doctor and his assistant are excellent and very caring. The reception / front office staff treat everyone terribly whether they are dealing with a person in person or on the phone. They are dismissive and rude. On my most recent visit I was incorrectly charged a co-pay (I have three insurance coverages) yet when I brought that to the attention of the clerk he told me that I was was wrong and that a co-payment was due. Rather than them resolving the situation which was due to their mistake I was told to contact their billing company because "we cannot help you." I did end up contacting the billing department, I was assured that I should not have been charged a copayment. I am now waiting for a refund. Bottom line; expect great service from the doctors and their immediate staff but be prepared for dealing with incompetent and rude reception area staff.

Dr. Read has repaired and stabilized macular degeneration in both my eyes. She is the consummate professional, whom I would recommend for eye surgery without any reservations. Honolulu is lucky to have her!

It was my first appointment at Retina Consultants of HI. It was very concerning to me how BUSY the clinic was and how many people occupied such a small space. I would say that it was probably busier than it would have been pre-Covid. The suggested wait time is 2-3 hours per appointment. This is probably because they OVERBOOK THEIR SCHEDULE. My appointment was at 8 AM and I was in my car to leave at around 10:45 AM. The reception waiting area was not more than a 9x9 room. There were four chairs in each corner, to account for the 6 feet social distancing mandate. They took each patient's temperature, which is good. I waited about 15 minutes and once I was called in, I was taken to a room to get the basic eye test, sign release forms and given eye drops to dilate my eyes. I was then taken to a makeshift wait area between rooms. This area also had four chairs but was no where near 6 feet of each other. There was A LOT of traffic between the rooms and makeshift waiting area. Imagine, 4 people in the reception area, 4 people in the makeshift wait area then staff members (I counted 6) walking around. There were WAY too many bodies in a small area. It made me uncomfortable. I waited roughly 30 minutes. I have had this same appointment done years ago at a different establishment so I had an idea of what to expect. A technician finally took me in to get the first set of pictures of my eyes. Everything was standard and I was told to go back to the makeshift wait area. After a half hour, I was told that a 2nd set of pictures had to be taken but we had to walk to a different suite on the same floor. We walk over and I am sat in another wait area, with about 3 other patients with less than 6 feet between us. The 2nd set of pictures were harder to get through, because they had to inject a dye into my veins. The technician could not get clear pictures of my eyes therefore a 3rd set had to be done. At this point, it was already an hour and a half into my appointment. I was exhausted, irritable and nauseated from the dye and from the bright flashes of light. I was upset and this was the first time that I wanted to walk out of an appointment. After the pictures, I am brought back to the original suite and makeshift wait area. There were three other patients waiting - another 3 bodies that I had to encounter amidst this COVID scare.45 mins goes by and Dr. Read is finally ready to see me. She was straightforward and to the point, which I appreciated. She showed me the pictures of my eyes. She recommended to laser some blood vessels in but wanted to see if a medication would work to regress them first. I agreed. As she explained the procedure, she put in drops to numb my right eye. After a few minutes she had me tilt my head back. She put in a dark liquid into my eye (I later found out it was beta-dine) which stung really bad. She told me to look left as she injected the medication into the right corner of my right eye. After injecting the medication, she washed my eye with a solution. She said all was done and to make two appointments - one for the following week and one for two weeks out. This portion of my appointment took about 15/20 mins. As I was checking out with the receptionist, I could not open my eye due to the pain. I asked how long it would be until my eye felt OK. The doctor's assistant asked me to go back into a room where she washed my eye AGAIN. Dr. Read must not have washed my eye well enough because as I was still in pain when relief should have been nearly immediate. This could have been prevented if the doctor had taken adequate time rinsing my eye the first time around. My next appointment is coming up and while I don't want to go back, I feel that I have to since I've already had this first appointment done. Overall, I was very disappointed with my experience and I can easily say this was the worst medical appointment I have had - hence why I took the time to write this review.

Dr James Lai is just awesome. He fixed my two torn retinas in my right eye by performing laser surgery on the same day that I was diagnosed with the torn retinas. What great service and compassion from this great doctor and his caring staff. Thanks again...you are the best!

There's much more better specialists out there than this one. Maybe the doctors are AMAZING like they say but the staff are very rude and have very bad phone etiquette. I called both offices to ask questions and also my first time ever calling them. We don't even know each other and this is the first impression I got from them. I didn't deserve this treatment at all. I could care less to how busy they are. But the lady was very impolite over the phone. Patients come first and their way of caring for people especially in an eye specialist office, you never treat them like they're unwelcomed. . As much as I wanted to see one of their doctors there from my referral, I will have to wait to see a much more comfortable office where they welcome new patients and treat them as if they been there for a long time. I don't ever want to hear gossiping over the phone and talking about patients. It is a law of privacy act. So if you have to make an appointment to see a retina specialist, there's more professionals out there and I found a couple already. They seemed pretty nice and friendly. The reviews are really GREAT!!! I don't care about this office!!! The staff especially the ones answering the phones made it a very bad experience. What's to say when you even go in and fill out a patient registration form, they might judge for the condition you have and treat you poorly. There is no aloha and that wouldn't be comfortable especially if you are concerned about your eyes. That's why everyone needing a specialist should look around and read reviews. It really helps to know what you're getting yourself into. The ones making appointments should be replaced. I don't even know how they got hired. I hope this review helps. Good luck if you must see them. There's lots of retina specialists out there on Oahu. They are not the only one!!!Aloha!!

Came here on an emergency based situation, and the office was very good at squeezing me into their hectic schedule. The wait was long, but Dr. Lai was awesome and hopefully my scheduled appointment won't be as long of a wait.