Wilmer Eye Institute At Johns Hopkins

I have been seeing Dr. Derek Welsbie for 18 months, and he has performed two surgeries on me in an attempt to stabilize my glaucoma. I have complete trust and confidence in Dr. Welsbie. My internist convinced me to go to Wilmer and it was the best decision I have ever made. My treatment has not been easy, but Dr. Welsbie has been by my side and totally available to help me through this. I think we have found the solution to my problem and I have Dr. Welsbie to thank for it. I am extremely grateful.

I’ve been to Wilmer three times to see Dr. Susan Bressler, an ophthalmologist specializing in retinal disorders. She’s the only doctor I’ve seen there, but I’ve dealt with many nurses and technicians, so I know the drill. This is going to be a long and detailed review, so here we go.
To say I don’t like things around my eyes is the understatement of the century. I couldn’t even apply mascara until my senior year of college. My eyes are ridiculously sensitive (my aunt once peeled an onion across the house and my eyes started to burn and water), and eye doctors just think I’m being dramatic. If you tell the good folks at Wilmer that you’re scared (or just rock back and forth with your nails digging into your palms — they pick up on that) they will give you to people who are the best at dealing with Nervous Nellies like myself. They have the most patient and comforting staff I have ever encountered, and I have been to A LOT of eye doctors over the years, in many locations.
The folks in Photography are also very kind and patient, and they will work with you. I have to get dye injected when I go, and they tell you to put your chin on the machine and look straight ahead. I tell them that I like to watch, because I’d rather see it and know when it’s happening, and they never have a problem letting me do that instead. If the dye makes you nauseous like it does me, tell them. For me, they inject it very slowly and give me a lower dose, so those are things you can ask for to avoid losing your cookies. The dye has a higher ph than your body (one of the techs explained this to me last time) so your body wants to get rid of it, and that’s why it makes you feel sick. Introducing it slowly gives your body more time to realize it’s not actually harmful and adjust accordingly.
Dr. Bressler (and probably some of the other doctors too) has a fellow or a resident working with her that will perform their own little examination and enter things in the computer. The first guy she worked with, Dr. Rah, was amazing and pretty much my favorite person I’ve ever encountered in a medical setting. The most recent guy was not the business, touched my eye without telling me, and seemed unsure of what he was doing. It can be frustrating having to put up with someone like that, but be patient because they’re learning. The doctor will then come in and do their own examination and correct what their fellow/​resident did, so rest assured that no decisions or permanent records will be at the sole discretion of the newbies.
Last thing — I have had to get an injection directly in my eyeball twice. The first time, I wanted Dr. Bressler’s resident/​fellow guy (Dr. Rah) to do it, because we really bonded and she was very brusque and I didn’t feel like I could trust her. In fact, I really didn’t like her. He convinced me to let her do it because she was more experienced. Dr. Bressler really is the best of the best. She is amazing at what she does. I told her all my concerns, and she handled them. I was mainly afraid I’d flinch away (wouldn’t you?) and they’d skewer my eyeball like a kebab, so she had a nurse hold my head still. It turned out not to be an issue, but I’m glad she did it anyway. She also described everything she was doing, while asking me questions to distract me, and counted down so I’d know exactly how much more pain I had to put up with. It was absolutely the best experience it could have been. Dr. Bressler is not warm and cuddly, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t care. She actually cares quite a lot. I love her and trust her to the moon and back, and if anyone is going to put a needle in my eye, it will be her each and every time.

I sought a second opinion with Dr. Repka at Johns Hopkins after having a mediocre experience with my daughter’s pediatric ophthalmologist in York, PA (where I lived before moving to CA last year). It’s only a 25 – 30 minute drive south to the Wilmer Eye Institute and our experience with him was phenomenal.
The wait time was never long, 10 – 15 minutes max, which was important when bringing a one-​year-​old in for appointments. They have a separate waiting area for kids with toys and books, and all of the nurses and Dr. Repka have an excellent rapport with kids — not just my daughter, but her big brother (who was 5 at the time and worried about his little sister’s upcoming surgery).
Dr. Repka immediately affirmed that my daughter needed to have surgery and scheduled her a few weeks out. He was very reassuring to all of us as we approached the surgery and especially the morning of, when we had to be at JH’s surgery center downtown. Both parents and big brother were allowed to wait with her in the pre-​op area prior to the surgery. (Another note about the downtown location is that we were given a parking token for the day of the surgery and had no issues getting there — although our appointment was VERY early, so we missed the morning rush hour/​commuter traffic.)
The surgery was successful and we had three great follow-​up appointments. At the time of the third appointment, we told Dr. Repka we were moving to San Diego and he referred us to several of his colleagues for continued care.
I just wanted my daughter to have the best care possible, and was very glad I made the decision to see Dr. Repka. There is not one thing I would change about the experience with this doctor or the Wilmer Eye Institute.