John W Archibald, OD

Walking into this office and the exam room is like entering a time capsule. Tolga O. got it right, so I won’t go into the oddness of the rotating contraption. Steampunk fans will enjoy it! I went one time years ago and never again. He only got my business the first time because I could walk to his office and I love all things Arlington Center. During the exam he got uncomfortably close to my face, I literally moved back from him. We’re not making out dude. They don’t carry glasses there so I walked into a nearby shop to ask about prices. He asked where I got the prescription from, when I told him, he chuckled — yeah. They sent me follow up letters for a few years to come in for an exam — no thanks. Don’t waste your time here.

As I mentioned in my previous review, there are no frames at this office. I went to another office with my prescription in hand, picked out frames and ordered them. When the glasses arrived, they were terrible. Instead of my vision looking clear, it felt like I had magnifying glasses on my face. I took the glasses back to the place where they were made and asked them to make sure they were made properly. When they confirmed, I went back to Dr. Archibald. He confirmed they were made properly. I insisted that something was wrong, so he begrudgingly offered to give me another eye exam. After the exam, he announced that my prescription was correct and I should just wear the glasses until I got used to them.
For two weeks I wore the glasses, even though they gave me migraines and I felt nauseated. After that, I gave up. This year, I went to a different eye doctor who did my exam and then looked at the glasses made with Dr. Archibald’s prescription. It was then that the eye doctor realized Dr. Archibald had written my prescription backwards– as if I was farsighted when I am in fact nearsighted. No wonder I couldn’t wear the damn things.
I will never go back to this eye doctor.

The reviews are very interesting reading. I have been seeing Dr. Archibald for well over 30 years and have never had a problem with any prescription — eyeglases OR contacts — I wear both and the contacts are toric. Not sure why folks are having issues. Also his prices have seemed to be in line with other optometrists that friends go to. If you go to a discount house of course it will be cheaper… maybe people need to compare apples to apples and not apples to oranges…
JW

i have been seeing Dr. Archibald for about 11 years. I find him very knowledgeable but more importantly very capable of determining what is the best eye glass prescription for me. When asked those questions regarding those letters, it is important to recognize the point of JND (just noticeable difference) in the patient’s response and how to adjust for that. I lived in California for 5 years and continued seeing Dr. Archibald during that time. I am an am amputee (left leg at the knee) and experience difficulty with the rotating array of instruments (my prosthetic leg protrudes out further at the knee). Also, I have difficulty adjusting the prosthetic limb– i have manged to adjust. As a guy who loves toys — I tease him about his lack of interest in buying new «toys». However, I suppose his skill level with the instruments he has used all these years is more to him than buying new ones. Also, he has a great personality

I have been seeing Dr. Archibald for over 7 years, he is a very nice person with a great staff that backs him up. However I have to disagree with the other reviewer that «him being knowledgeable about the latest techniques»… well he might know that they exist however it looks like he didn’t make any investment to his office/​diagnostic equipment for the past 15 years if not more.
He has this rotating platform that all his equipment installed on, where he presses a switch, the whole contraption rotates to line you up with a different diagnostic equipment. Now there is a cool factor with that and you can tell he is very proud of this gizmo he build himself. Every time I sat at his patient chair I feel like I am Captain Kirk. I want to order people around. «Raise the shields!!» «Watch for photon torpedoes.»
Yet he still has no automated/​computerized machine that measures your eye sight, he still uses this ghetto plastic eye glasses with no lenses and he pulls single lens from a drawer that has rows and rows of different magnitude lenses, and he does the vision test using the letters on the wall. Now after a couple of times you learn the letters so even though I may not see perfectly I can tell/​remember what they are. Using this vision test I never ever got, crisp clear sight. Also the glaucoma test where there is a puff of air into your eye ball to figure out your eye pressure… I HATE that machine but there is no alternatives right so I put up with that crap… No more!
In my last eye exam, Dr Archibald prescribed me this set of contact lenses (I wear both contact lenses and regular eye glasses), they were HORRIBLE, I use toric lenses and these contacts would always rotate to a point where I couldn’t see well enough on my right eye. Also a coworker of mine who is also a patient of Dr Archibald mentioned similar complaints to me. Never getting perfect vision, getting stressed out on the vision test and memorizing the letters on the lighted board… bla bla
I was in search of a new OD, asked couple people on Unilocal talk, some internet search and I had a new eye exam scheduled. What a night and day difference. This doctor had a vision test that electronically measures your eye sight, when you move to the manual vision test he already starts with amazingly crisp prescription and fine tunes /​verifies the results from the other tests. No more ghetto manual test either, this little machine he has have all the lenses included in it and he just rotates couple knobs to change lenses, directions, angles etc. so much faster. what a relief… on top of it he uses a projector that projects letters on the wall so you never get to look at the same set, he used different letters for both eyes in total of 6 – 7 different images.
Finally it was the turn of glaucoma test… the dreaded puff of air (I know I am dramatizing). To my surprise he pulled out this little vial with a yellow liquid in it, I asked him about the puff of air he said (exactly as he said) «Nobody likes that test, its cruel so 10 years ago we started using this other XYSZGYSG (I dont remember the name) test which more accurate anyway» Damn it, its even more accurate. what the heck…
It turns out my prescription was wrong/​changed, he has also suggested I should try another brand… Once I get my new contact lenses and confirm they work as well as my experience in the doctors office, I will include his contact into this review.
UPDATE: Iam pretty happy with my new prescription.

My family has been visiting John Archibald for 2+ years to get glasses. His selection is limited and somewhat pricey, but he is conveniently located in Arlington center.
However —
I use both glasses and contacts, with contacts being used only for short periods for sports. I told him this, and that I wanted to buy some disposables to replenish my current supply. John then tried to upsell me on a new type of contacts that have recently become available. When I told him I didn’t want those, he refused me a prescription, despite the fact that he had received full payment through my vision plan for doing the exam.
I’ve purchased glasses from him in the past and my wife had just purchased a $ 500+ pair of glasses from him 3 weeks ago, so it is not as if we haven’t given him sufficient business.
Nobody from my family will set foot in his office again, and I would recommend the same for you.
If you don’t care about getting taken for eyecare costs, go ahead and use him. He’s an adequate doctor, but he will extract as much money from you as he can. I find that unacceptable in tough economic times like these.

Dr. Archibald is fantastic! A really great example of old-​fashioned service. He’s personable, his staff are friendly, and his office is cozy. At the same time, he’s extremely knowledgeable about the latest techniques and technology. I’ve since moved out of Arlington, but I still see him!

Dr. Archibald and his staff were very helpful and patient (I had an insurance snafu). The chair with the rotating machines is pretty darn neat. The only (minor) complaint is that I wish there were a slightly larger selection of glasses.

Dr. Archibald is great. He is very up on current discoveries in eye care/​contact lens/​etc. He invented a cool rotating chair system in his office so that all the eye machines fit. I like him. He takes BCBS. When street parking was scarce I would often park in the dry cleaners/​coffeeshops parking lot next door and never got a ticket.