Stephen R. Smith's Online Review Report Card

Very thoughtful.

We recommend Dr Smith to everyone . Seldom do you find a great doctor with his humanity, expertise and genuinely caring attitude.

Dr. Smith & his staff are excellent. I had an urgent issue with my right eye and Dr. Smith & his staff personally made sure they did everything possible to help me. Thankfully my right eye is improving and I owe a lot to Dr. Smith & his staff. This office is very professional, polite, caring and dedicated to providing the absolute best care to their patients! Definelty a 5-Star Rating!

Very knowledgeable and kind. Also handsome which is a plus lol! Glad to know that I won’t be going blind any time soon :)

This doctors is fantastic. My father was a patient for over 5 years. He always made sure to explain everything throughtly each visit. He would show and explain each imaging of his eyes. He explain what he was doing and way. He answered the endless questions I had each visit. This is what every doctor bedside manner needs to be like. We moved away and no doctor has compared. Even considered driving 3 hours each way to continue being a patient

Dr. Stephen and his staff are the absolute best. Super informative, patient and understanding. Had some floaters I was concerned about and Dr. Stephen ran a thorough exam. Explained in detail what was going on. Highly recommend for anyone having retinal issues.

I went to Dr. Smith for a second opinion. I'm so glad I did. He correctly suspected a rare eye condition and sent me to the Dallas Retina Foundation for confirmation. He's a smart doctor with an excellent bedside manner -- a rare combo.

Exceptional care. Dr. Smith quickly resolved my detachment. The aftercare was great as well. All staff in the office are friendly and professional. If you ever need retina care, this is the place to be.

Dr. Smith studied electrical engineering and economics. He should have stuck with working on electronics or money- somewhere far away from any profession requiring people skills or empathy- which he has none of. He treats your eyes as though they are annoyances that get in the way of his big careless hands. Here are the details of my experience with Dr. Smith: On Tuesday, October 9th, during a one month Lasik checkup at Mann Eye Institute, I told the Lasik doctor that I was seeing a flash of light when I closed my eyes. She said that I may have a retinal tear, and dilated my pupils. After looking in my eye briefly, verified that there was a tear in the retina of my right eye. She told me to go to see a retina specialist right away, and made an appointment with Dr. Stephen Smith of Central Texas Retina and Vitreous (CTRV). I went there directly, and arrived at 5:40 p.m. When I arrived at CTRV, the receptionist checked me in, and I went back to see Dr. Smith. Then the receptionist told us goodbye, and there were no other employees there since the office was closed. Dr. Smith was rushing me to tell him my medical history, since it was after hours. He inserted one numbing drop into each eye in order to take my eye pressure. Then he examined my right eye by inserting a long Q-Tip into the far corner of my right eye and pressing it into my eye and having me look toward the Q-Tip while he shone a very bright light at my eye. He said that he couldn't find the tear after looking for 15 to 20 minutes. I told Dr. Smith that I was in a lot of pain from the Q-Tip and the bright light. He said that it was just pressure from the Q-Tip. Then he looked in my left eye for 5 minutes and didn't see any retinal tears. He said that I probably didn't have a retinal tear, but wanted to look again in my right eye. He put the Q-Tip back into my eye and looked around for 15 more minutes and found a retinal tear. I was in a lot of pain from the Q-tip and was crying. He told me that he recommended performing laser surgery to tack the retina to my eye before it detaches. He took me to a dark room and handed me a laser consent form to sign and I signed it although I couldn't see because the room was dark, my eyes were dilated and I had a light shining in them for the past 40 minutes. He then put the Q-Tip back in my right eye and pressed it in hard to try to see the tear. He said that couldn't find the tear and that it was hard to focus the laser. I started feeling a searing nerve pain in my right eye. I was crying from the pain and asked him what that sharp pain was. He said I was feeling a 'slight pin prick' sensation from the laser. I told him I was in a lot of pain. He told me not to "over exaggerate things" and that it was just a pin prick. I told him that it really hurt. He kept going with the laser and kept pressing harder with the Q-tip into my eye. He stopped after 30 minutes and said "I've gotten a third of the way through, I could just stop now." I was really scared that he was doing damage to my eye and that he was going to stop before my eye surgery was complete. I begged him to finish the surgery.I was crying and he left the room, stating that he was giving me a minute to calm down. He said he was looking for some ibuprofen but could not find any, claiming that "usually there are technicians here who know where things are." He came back and dilated my eyes again, and then put in one numbing drop in my eye. He resumed the laser surgery after a minute. I was in a lot of pain and was crying. He continued the surgery for about 30 minutes more. Then he abruptly got up and told me I could get up out of the chair. I asked him if he was done. He didn't commit that the surgery was completed or that my eye was OK. He asked if I could find my way out. I said that I could not since I couldn't see. He said "oh I should have told you that your vision would be all dark purple but it will return in the next 10 minutes." He told me how to get out and then scheduled me for a followup. He didn't give me any post-surgery care instructions and I was in too much shock to ask. I asked if I could drive home and he said "well you drove up here with dilated eyes, so you can drive home with dilated eyes". I left his office at 7:20 pm, one hour and 40 minutes after I arrived.I cancelled the follow-up appointment because I spoke with other retinal surgeons over the phone and they were shocked at the length of time he spent attempting surgery, his inattention to my level of pain, the lack of pain relieving nerve-blocking shot administration, and the poor care that I received. I am concerned that Dr. Smith was inept at performing laser surgery, that the laser surgery was not successful, and that he showed extremely poor judgement in performing the surgery after hours without any technicians present and without any pain relief options.