Eye Physicians of Austin

My experience with EPA, and especially Dr. Dai, was superb. I’ve never had better care and attention from a health care professional.
I don’t write reviews and this is 2 years overdue. I came back to write it after all this time, because I want to acknowledge what Dr. Dai did for me. The summer of 2014 I developed what I assumed was pink eye. My regular eye doctor gave me some drops, but after those didn’t work she referred me to EPA and they got me in the next day. When the original ophthalmologist saw my eye, he enlisted the help of Dr. Dai. From the beginning, Dr. Dai was very professional. He started me on a care plan but the issue did not improve, and we continued to search for a cure. As it turned out, the infection was a rare and persistent fungal infection on my cornea.
At times Dr. Dai was seeing me twice a week when symptoms were severe. He would even squeeze me in on his lunch break. One day I went to check out after an appointment and the receptionist said there would be no charge. Dr. Dai didn’t charge me a dollar from that day on. At the time I didn’t have insurance, and this was such a god send. My eye drops cost over $ 200 out of pocket, so not being charged for the visits really helped. Dr. Dai continued to see me for a couple of months, and he suggested numerous things for alleviating the pain.
Thank you so much, Dr. Dai. There was no one better suited to care for my eye. The staff was caring and always asked about the progress of my eye. We all rejoiced when the symptoms started to wane.

Dr Wollen and his staff treated my serious glaucoma eye issues with speed and precision. I recommend them very highly.

Unfortunately, I think this office has gone down hill.
I still keep them on hand, because their doctors are pros if you have a real eye problem. If you’re only going in for basic eye check up, and to get glasses/​contacts their service is painfully slow and you can find better people for this in Austin now.
Their building is new and sparkly, but what does your mom always tell you? Don’t judge a book by its cover, right? I had been going here for years because I have an astigmatism, and very strong prescription and require custom contacts. The old contact guy was amazing! He was super good. Fast forward to present day, about a year ago he quit (retired, my guess). New person not as good. Ordering contacts took about a month, waiting for them took about two months. Expect a lot of phone tag. Contacts never felt fitted right, complained, contacts constantly ripped costing me more money (something that never happened with the old contacts and I’ve been wearing contacts for 10+ years).
I switched to Optique downtown after being fed up with ripping contacts and always waiting forever for an appointment and never being able to talk to someone on the phone. Haven’t regretted the switch yet.
I’m sad to have broken up with EPA as I had been a patient for ever. But like my mom says about doctors, sometimes you have to find the one that works for you and stick with them. Thanks to Unilocal I found Optique, and highly recommend– worth that downtown traffic.

Dr. Peter Wollen is amazing! He is a glaucoma specialist. I saw him for my eye problems and he was the most caring doctors I have ever met. I never write Unilocal reviews but he deserves one. He was so humble and sweet and would definitely go to him again.

My experience here was not what one would hope from a professional organization. Dr. Plunkett after spending about 5 minutes with me made a snap diagnosis and told me to go home and read about it on the web. Having done so I’m now convinced that his diagnosis is incorrect and that he would have not ever made that diagnosis in the first place and he asked me a couple of very simple and very relevant questions. I am angry that correct treatment of my condition whatever it may be has been delayed and I’m also upset that as someone who has recently undergone a great deal of financial stress I am now going to have to pay another doctor to do what dr. Plunkett should have done in the first place.

Clean establishment, competent physicians although what I don’t like is it the wait times; they have a 15 minute grace period for you to arrive late but then even in spite that you may end up waiting 30 minutes in my experience sometimes to be seen. Convenient location and parking. I love that they disinfect all the equipment right in front of you before your face and chin touch all their fancy eye testing equipment.

I went to Dr. Dai and his team to get my vision checked and they were fine. The contact lens reception team was terrible! I called to get my contacts and never heard from them, 4 weeks later I called and they told me my contacts were ready 3 weeks ago. They had called, left no voice message or email notifying me they were in. I went into the office and was treated like human garbage by the contact lens reception area. They were not willing to answer my questions or even acknowledge me once they swiped my card. The doctors are fine but there are plenty of fine eye doctors that don’t have rude staff, pass on this one.

I came here and met with Dr. Eric Fine to check to see if I was eligible for LASIK. Dr. Fine was great, very friendly and explained in detail everything he was checking, why, and what it means to me. If you’re at all curious about LASIK, I highly recommend making an appointment here. I wasn’t eligible at this time, but Dr. Fine taught me more about my eyes than any eye doctor I’ve been to in the past 20 years of wearing glasses.

EPA is a great business with a more than competent staff. Their MD’s on staff (I’ve been seen by 3) are professional, courteous and very great at their craft.
The new office is still less than a few years old and is a complete 180 from the old building. Well lit, laid out in a functional flow. Parking is a lot easier now as well.
Their eye glass selection isn’t the greatest for men. They do have a small selection of designer brands but a lot of it is dedicated to the women folk crowd. Their contact department is always spot on however. I find that their prices are fair and are in line with «industry averages» including the 1−800-Contacts and other TV brands.
They offer a very nice cash discount which is somewhere in the neighborhood of 40% off so they don’t have to deal with the time it takes to bill insurances. This covers routine visits and check ups.
They’re also in a great place to grab a bite to eat once your exam is complete!
The cons:
Unless you’re there for an actual medical procedure, since they are Ophthalmology MD’s and not Optometrists, they bill medical insurance which won’t cover routine check ups for your yearly prescriptions. and most vision specific insurances aren’t accepted. The more common providers VSP EyeMed etc. don’t really help with the cost of the visit so keep that in mind. I only have to visit once a year for my eyeglass and contact prescription so my HSA account helps cover the visit cost out of pocket.

Dr. Pierce performed my cataract surgery and did a wonderful job — great outcome. The staff is very friendly and professional. I really like that they are usually on time with appointments. I don’t think I’ve had to wait past my appointed time in the 5 – 6 visits I’ve had there.

AHHH! What did I just waste my whole afternoon doing?
I came here for a very painful chalazion with no signs of improvement. I had to take half the day off work for my afternoon appointment. I was hungry when I arrived, but figured I could forego lunch for the hour or so the appointment would take. Here’s what happened:
1) Because Austin traffic I planned ahead, and I arrived early — 12:15 or so. They also asked for new patients to arrive 15 minutes ahead of appointment time. Thought about grabbing a taco at Torchy’s after checking in, but a sign in the elevator sternly instructs patients to not eat or drink in the fancy new waiting room and office. Okay, whatever.
2.) 12:50 — eight more people join me in the previously-​empty waiting room. When am I being called?
3.) 1:00 — I get called in and speak with a nurse.
4.) 1:20 — You hear that? That was my stomach rumbling.
5.) 1:30 — Doctor arrives. I’ll have to wait two weeks for surgery, but use these drops in the meantime. (Hands me samples.)
6.) 2:30 — I arrive home (after stopping to grab lunch). I unwrap the eye drops… and yeah, they expired 5 months ago. They’re an antibiotic, so something in there is (or was) alive, right?
7.) Called the office to ask for new drops. Could they mail them? No. I would have to drive up to their office for them (Austin rush hour, no thanks). Best they can do: wait for the doctor to phone in the script. Now I get to… go out and sit in Austin traffic.
You’d think that if they make patients wait so long, they’d have time to rotate their sample stock after a few months. I can see it being just expired within a few weeks, but come ON.
FAST FORWARD TWO WEEKS: I had scheduled a surgery for my eye at the end of this appointment. The morning of, they called me to say the doctor was sick and they would have to reschedule. Next available appointment: in six weeks. (Did I mention this thing on my eyelid looked nasty and was very painful?) What about another doctor in their practice? I would have to come in for a repeat exam to have my condition diagnosed again, and from there schedule another surgery. Can an exception be made for this circumstance? No. Okay then, made an appointment with another doctor, at a different practice.
FAST FORWARD THREE WEEKS: When I went to another doctor, he removed the chalazia the same day as my appointment, and asked me, «What doctor did you go to who was going to make you come back for this procedure? I do this kind of thing same-​day.» Harrumph.

If I could put zero stars for this location I would. I had the worst experience with Dr.Dai. He is the most unprofessional, unpersonable eye doctor they have. He’s also the youngest and most inexperienced, they may have something to do with it. If you go here I recommend to ask for a different doctor if you get stuck with him.
So I have a eye condition called keratoconus he was very unexperienced with the condition and wasted my time with different options of treatment. He’s recommendations and diagnosis were narrow and bleak. I tried to ask questions and he talk to me like a was a lesser person than him. Anyway I found a great doctor downtown.

In addition to my previous review, I have to give a shout out to the contact lens department here. Laura and Sophia really went out of their way to first, make sure I bought the right contacts and two, that the contacts were comfortable.
I can’t say enough about how impressed I was. They are super sweet also!

I recently had cataract surgery done by Dr. Mark Plunkett and it was the most pleasant experience I’ve ever had. Dr. Plunkett took into account that I was a lot younger than most of his patients, and that I had previous surgeries to repair retinal tearing. He was very thorough in both my pre and post-​op appointments; explaining every detail and answering all of my questions. I highly recommend Dr. Plunkett to anyone needing cataract surgery, he’s very personable and an excellent surgeon. You will also love his staff, they are always attentive and genuinely nice.

I thought everyone was really great in this office. The whole office was very clean and comfortable. Dr. Wollan was really great. He clearly explained everything to me and answered all my questions. I highly recommend this office!

This was a fairly bad experience. The facilities are very nice. The staff is possibly the least professional I have encountered. While waiting in the exam room I could clearly hear loud and completely inappropriate conversations between staff members. The doctor took a very long time (I know that cannot be helped) and when he arrived he clearly do not want to hear from me. He was dismissive and never really told me what I am expected to do next. He said to follow a tech who told me to stand next to a white pillar. After a wait, another staff member arrived she couldn’t figure out why the doctor sent me there. We figured out that may he wanted me fit for contacts but I was asked to call on the phone later to ask another staff member what to do. I then went into the area where you buy glasses but she advised me that the wait for glass would be more than a week then walked off. OY!
I think the eye exam was extremely thorough and well done so I guess you take the good with the bad.

I really wanted to like this place since the location is great and they accept my insurance. Unfortunately, my experience was definitely disappointing.
I had eye irritation for about a month prior to going to see my primary care physician for treatment. I went to my doctor and received medication but the problem continued to get worse so I requested a referral to Eye Physicians of Austin. The referral was faxed on a Sunday so I called to make an appointment on Monday morning. I got their message service during business hours. I called back later to still get the message service and was then told that their phone likes were down. I got a call back from a woman who seemed inconvenienced and made it clear she was having to use her cell phone to call me. I explained my situation to her which she didn’t even listen to because when she started scheduling my appointment, she asked me the same basic questions I already answered. When she realized, although I had already told her, that I was a new patient and my insurance required a referral, she said she couldn’t schedule the appointment until she received my referral. She proceeded to tell me they didn’t know when their lines would be back up and that I physically need to pick it up from my PCP’s office and bring it in– not an option given my schedule.
The following day I went into the office to ask if the phone lines were back up. I was made to wait while a woman was just sitting there then the other acted inconvenienced that I was even asking– no one else was waiting to be helped. I asked if I could schedule an appointment and them call to verify the referral with the insurance company, given the situation. The answer was a prompt no with no other information given and no offer to help in any way. So I let them know I would be looking for another doctor to give my business to and they acted like I was the rude one…
I will not be returning and have found another ophthalmologist to treat me (and his staff are great to work with too!).

Dr. Thorne has been my eye Doctor for over 20 years. He did my cataract surgery, one in 2005 and one in 2008. It was the easiest surgery I ever had. He assured me that all would go well and it sure did. He also monitors my retinas which I had surgery on in 1980 because they were detached and he says they are doing great. I am also a glaucoma patient and he makes sure I have drops that keep my pressure in check.
Overall Dr. Thorne and his staff are top notch. Any concern I have ever had was immediately addressed.
I would never go anywhere else for my eye care. Not even Obama can make me change Doctors.

Great place to get you lasik surgery done! Very glad that I didn’t go anywhere else. They were friendly and helpful and took care of me every step of the way. I recommend that everyone goes to this place, you wont be just another number for them!
Thank you Erik and Dr. Thorne

Really nice office. Their equiptment seems very up to date. The staff are super friendly. My husband has a great visit he had a cornea transplant a year ago and we feel safe doing his follow up at this center.