Jennifer Balentine's Online Review Report Card

I recently had my regular eye exam with Dr. Balentine, who is my mother's ophthalmologist as well. She is thorough, unhurried and knowledgeable. She's very good with my elderly mother, and has been willing to discuss and consider options for her which take into consideration her personal wishes and situation.Her staff was also pleasant and easy to communicate with.

Dr. Balentine is an accomplished and skilled opthalmologist, and the standard of care in this clinic is high.That said, when our professional relationship went south, it hurt me more than it usually does, and I've failed at several care provider relationships. I got caught in this one, unable to face its deterioriation, when usually, I grow uneasy about the fail, and switch providers.The story I used to tell myself was that I couldn't stay with medical providers because of my psychological issues, which I've worked on with therapy for years. But recently, I learned I have ADD, which I didn't know I had during the years I was Dr. Balentine's patient.I don't truly know precisely what made Dr. Balentine, once calm and friendly, grow cold and borderline resentful in the way she acted, rarely looking at me, and giving short, to the point instructions in an uncaring voice, when before she'd gone into warm and helpful detail.I do know, however, that for decades I l carried a ton of denial about my impact on others, and that denial got in the way of me processing the change in Dr. Balentine. I was hurt by her dislike, but at the same time I was in denial about it, because I couldn't face that my behavior had caused it.Maintaining this fragile denial made me worse at following medical instructions than usual, and I ended up with a chronic eye condition, for which I can't hold Dr. Balentine legally responsible. Coincidentally, I scratched my cornea twice during my years as Dr. Balentine's patient. (ADD-related accident proneness was a constant.) The first time, early on, Dr. Balentine was nurturing, and gave me several tubes of nighttime eye ointment and detailed instructions about when to apply it and for how long, and offered a follow up appointment. It healed completely. The second time, several years later, she matter of factly told me to use nighttime eye ointment because otherwise the scratch wouldn't heal, handed me a tube of ointment, and didn't offer a followup. I wasn't great at coping, and I was caught up in my denial, and I forgot to buy more ointment. A couple of years after that, the scratch, which had never entirely healed, got dried out and infected, and I saw another provider (on an emergency basis) who informed me that I'd need to use nightly eye ointment and several times daily drops for the rest of my life. I consulted with Dr. Balentine when every eye ointment I tried led to swollen eyelids and discharge, and she confirmed that the eye condition was chronic, and correctly diagnosed allergy to the ointments and drops. I became allergic even to the last resort antihistamine eye drops. Luckily, adding a humidifier to the room where I sleep has been enough for a couple of years to avoid further infections.It was only a year or so after that last interaction that I finally had a therapeutic and meditation-related awakening, and was able to recognize the denial I'd been living with, and accept that I was an extremely unwelcome presence in Dr. Balentine's practice.I don't know exactly how I first offended Dr. Balentine. I did notice at one point, that the visit routine had changed, and it was Dr. Balentine, and not an associate, who was conducting my vision evaluation. When I gained the ability to reflect, I remembered I would always get freaked out during the vision evaluation. Something about the way my brain does ADD means I can't handle rapid fire questions about which side is better or the same. Was I rude? Did I burn out her staff? Did she begrudgingly conduct the vision evaluation to shield them from the crazy patient? Did I offend in some other way? I truly don't know, and after what I experienced with her, I don't trust her enough to have that conversation.I really wish she'd fired me, rather than freezing me out, though. If you, or someone you love, has issues like mine, it might help you to know that there's a price for making mistakes with Dr. Balentine.

Several weeks ago I made an appointment for an eye exam and new glasses at the office of Jennifer Balentine. Yesterday they called me to remind me of my 11 o'clock appointment. Earlier this morning they sent me a text message reminding me of my 11 o'clock appointment. I checked in at the office at 10:50. I was told my appointment was at 10:30 and I would have to reschedule. I showed them the text message they had sent to my phone telling me my appointment was 11 o'clock. The receptionist took my phone and showed it to somebody lurking behind the front desk. "His appointment says 11 o'clock," she told the person. The person said, "I can't possibly do that maybe later." The receptionist told me "It's gonna be a long wait but if you were willing to wait we can get you in." She then attended to the next patient. I started to sit down to wait and then I realized how foolish that was. I stood up, interrupted the next patient, and said, "Cancel my appointment; if you don't apologize, I don't patronize." I left.The doctor may be great; I was told she was. But under the circumstances, the absence of the basic common courtesies indicates I'm probably not going to be happy here.

I got diagnosed with Macular Degeneration by an optometrist. I'd heard good things about Dr. Balentine, so I went to her for a second opinion/to see about treatment. I only waited a few minutes before seeing her optometric tech, who did a thorough and careful job. When Dr. B. came in and did her own (equally careful and thorough) exam she said I didn't have MD, but something commonly mistaken for it, which has a different progression and treatment. I've seen her several more times over the years. I have complete confidence in her skills. I've referred quite a few people to her who have been equally satisfied.

Dr. Balentine is very responsive and caring. When I suffered a severe eye infection she even came in both Saturday and Sunday to check me. After haphazard care for that with another physician her expertise and concern became very clear. Her office team is great and they run a smooth operation. I would definately recommend her.

Dr. Balentine is very responsive and caring. When I suffered a severe eye infection she even came in both Saturday and Sunday to check me. After haphazard care for that with another physician her expertise and concern became very clear. Her office team is great and they run a smooth operation. I would definately recommend her.

We've been going to Br Balentine for at least 10 years, starting when I had an injury to my one good eye in 07 or 08. She's always thorough and insistent on making sure we knew what she was doing & why. Her office staff is wonderful and appointments are always within a reasonable time-frame. I think I'll keep going to her!

I rarely write Yelp reviews, but Kat l's experience is so far off what my family and I have experienced ... I need to provide a review based on years of experience with her and her staff. Dr. Balentine is an absolute expert in complex eye cases: I have high risk eyes due to extreme near-sighted vision, early LASIK -- prior to what is now know as being overly aggressive -- and years of playing contact sports (and sports that aren't supposed to be contact, but really are). She diagnosed early cataract issues and advised me when the time was right for surgery. When I went to get surgery, I was blown away in both pre-Op and post-Op by the huge fan club of other RN's and MD's commenting on "wow, you got Dr. Balentine -- you've got the best." The personal care Dr. B provides is exceptional, her surgical skills as good as they get. Let me tell you of a tough personal situation that just occurred: I was working in Chicago and became concerned that a big shadow was blurring the vision in my right eye. I called the after hours number and got an immediate call back from Dr. B. She instructed me to get to a retina specialist immediately -- do not get on a plane home. Her advice saved my right eye. A Chicago retinal specialist (another Wash U in St. Louis doc) conducted emergency surgery to reattach my retina. Dr. B called pre-Op and post-Op just to see how I was doing.Yup, you're going to get your eye chart and initial dilation done by a highly professional staffer -- not Dr. B. If she breezes through your exam, it's only because she hasn't seen anything, BUT she sees EVERYTHING she needs to -- especially with critical eye issues. 3 kids, my wife, and I -- that's 5 people times how many eye exams, eye traumas, and surgery -- never anything less than 5 stars. BTW, we did not start out with Dr. B, we started out with her partner, Dr. Stark. After Dr. Stark left for Europe maybe 6 or 7 years ago, we were going to change practices, as we didn't know anyone with experience with Dr. B. I needed an exam as part of my physical exam for racing cars, so, I went ahead and saw Dr. B -- and never looked back. I can't say enough positive things in support of Dr. Balentine, her staff, her professional skills, and personal care.

My vision had been gradually deteriorating and I needed a very thorough eye exam. I have a history of RK and LASIK which further complicates my eyes so, rather than my usual optometrist, I decided an ophthalmologist would be best & decided to drive 50 miles out of my way to see Dr. Balentine. The receptionist at this office was pleasant enough and I got an appointment within a few days. Once in the office I didn't have to wait long to be seen. It was nice that the office validated my parking ticket so parking is free. NOW THE DOWNSIDE: My eyes were actually examined and measured by a staff member- NOT the doctor and not even an optometrist. It was the fastest wham-bam eye exam I've ever had in my entire 50 plus years. No chit-chat, no explanations, no-lol-eye contact. The examiner acted like I was preventing her from being where she really wanted to be. Afterwards Dr. Balentine popped into the room to introduce herself and in beat with the examiner spent all of 2-3 minutes answering my questions and promptly left. She didn't even double check my eye measurements. By this time I was beginning to think I would have been better off going to Costco where at least the optometrist does the eye exam. FYI....If you have had prior RK or LASIK surgery and later need contact lenses for vision correction you need to know BEFOREHAND that not all ophthalmologists/optometrists have the equipment necessary to accurately map out the surface of the cornea for the purpose of doing "complicated" contact lenses fitting. Not only does Dr. Balentine lack such equipment, she lacks the expertise. She even contracts out an optometrist to come in once a week to do all her patient contact lens fittings!!On appointment #2- I went to Dr. B's office and met the optometrist who comes q Weds. from her primary work at the VA in Portland. She was a pleasant enough, in her mid 20's and looked inexperienced with her little case a generic "sample" lenses. She had me try on two different lenses which, of course, would not work with my complicated flat cornea. She then suggested I find a doctor who specializes in post RK and LASIK custom fitting. Duh!! By now I am really starting to get irritated and perturbed for wasting yet another visit with this so called doctor and her lackadaisical minions.Dr. Balentine, if worth her salt, would do her own exams or at minimum confirm her staff member's eye findings. If she was any good at all she would have discovered with my history and the initial exam that fitting me with contacts was way outside her expertise. Why come back in for a second appointment....so I could try on 2 sample lenses??!! What a total waste of time!!!!!!What makes me even more upset is Dr. Balentine had originally told me that if she could not fit me in contacts she would refer me to a doctor who specialized in fitting contacts post RK/LASIK. Later however, when I asked for a referral I was told (by the receptionist) that Dr. Balentine knew no one to refer me to!!!! This was ridiculous, unprofessional and just plain mean on her part. FOLLOWUP: After Dr. B failed to give me a referral I called an eye clinic in Bellingham (4 hours north from me) who advertises to specialize in "complicated contact lens fitting" and left a message. The same day the very pleasant doctor called back and showed more interested and spent more time with me than the very brief encounter with Dr. Balentine. He went on to give me not only the names of 5 promising referrals, but also their location & contact numbers. He discussed with me the average pricing and and did a little research online & suggested the Pacific University in Portland which is much closer to me and would be less expensive. At this point I was really kicking myself for wasting my time and money with Dr B. It is a sad day in medicine when the doctor I called in Bellingham (who isn't getting paid) was more attentive, spent more time with me and gave me 5 referrals while Dr. Balentine (who got paid) spent a quarter of the time and could not be bothered to examine my eyes much less give me one referral. This speaks volumes about this doctor. In summary, from my experience with Balentine I cannot recommend her to anyone and would especially NOT TRUST her to accurately diagnose or if she was so inclined, to perform any sort of surgery. There are far, far better and safer choices out there.

Absolutely fabulous with my husband.