I had last seen Dr. Levinson 4 years ago. About 6 weeks ago I went to see him due to the fact that my eyesight had dramatically diminished over the previous month, my eyes were in a constant state of redness and I had episodes of blurred vision. After waiting 45 minutes to be shown to an exam room, I overheard the Dr. arguing and being rude to another patient. One of his assistants completed 95% of my exam. I have no idea what her credentials were, but she was clearly not a doctor. She just kept saying, ""I'm the one doing the looking the the Dr. will be the one doing the talking."" Further, she sidestepped any question that I had as she went through the exam citing the same quote over and over. Dr. Levinson did a cursory look in the eyes and came to the simple conclusion that my eyesight at worsened (not usual at my age of 43) and that he was going to recommend starting me on a monovision prescription for my contact lenses. I tried the new prescriptions but over the next 6 weeks, I saw marginal improvement, my eyes remained red (all of the time even when not wearing contacts) and I still encountered episodes of blurred vision. Today I went to get a second opinion from another Dr. What she discovered was that: 1) the contacts that I had been using over the course of the last 7 years were extremely outdated technology and were depriving my eyes of adequate oxygen (newer lenses are made out of other material that allow for more oxygen). As a result, I had caused significant damage to my eyes to the point of blocking tear ducts that prevented natural lubrication of the contacts. This lack of lubrication caused abrasions and other damage to the back of the eyes and beneath the lids causing a viral (not bacterial) conjunctivitis which I've apparently had for some time (thus the constant redness). None of this was picked up by Dr. Levinson (how could he with only a cursory look) or by the non-doctor that examined my eyes. As a result of the damage, it now looks as if I will need to be out of contacts for weeks if not months while my eyes heal and the inflamation reduces. I'll need to order new contacts (if I can even wear them again) as well as glasses (he didn't even give me a glasses prescription even after I asked since he said that ""it wouldn't be worth it if I'm going to wear contacts all of the time), thus costing yet more money. My understanding is that in order to get a contacts prescription doctors are required to give a glasses prescription as well (though this might just be customary practice) I also need go back to the eye dr. another 2 times to closely monitor the situation while I take steroids in my eyes and they heal. I liked Levinson 4 years ago when I saw him last and his reception folks are nice and welcoming, but it has become apparent that in the interim 4 years, he has become too busy, relies too heavily on support staff (perhaps some who do not have enough training) and has too many patients to truly provide the kind of medical attention (with an appropriate bedside manner) that I expect for the examination and treatment of such vital organs.
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