Eye Institute of NC PC

Thanks Dr. Lee and Great Team (Melanie, Victoria) For being so Wonderful! …for helping me keep and correct my vision.
Patient understanding is one big part of the office… Thank you!

We have had a great experience here! My husband had cataract surgery in both eyes by Dr. Christine Lee. She and her staff are very friendly and helpful! We think she’s great!

I do not recommend Dr. Lee and here’s why. There are several reasons. Dr. Lee is nice and friendly but nice only goes so far. I was a patient for regular eye exams for a little while before going elsewhere after a botched procedure that left my vision damaged in my left eye.
1. Dr. Lee’s office lost my records and, to my knowledge never found them. This was concerning especially in view of the Dr. Lee recommending a procedure to correct glaucoma. .. but not being able to find her records about it.
2. in 2012, Dr. Lee diagnosed me with narrow angle glaucoma and recommended a laser procedure to correct the problem. This procedure works by burning a hole at the rim of the iris to equalize the pressure. Since, in her view, the left eye was worse, we did that one first. The procedure was performed by Dr. Lee under the direction of another person. I should have known that Dr. Lee didn’t know what she was doing since another person was there to tell her what to do. I was not informed of the fact that Dr. Lee would be training on me and my eye!
3. Following the procedure, the vision in my left eye seemed to have glare or reflected light that did not exist before the procedure. I mentioned this to Dr. Lee and she’d never heard of it. .. In fact, after research, I learned that this is a common occurrence if the hole is not place correctly. An incorrectly placed hole will allow light to enter and cause a glare or reflection. (It’s hard to describe unless you experience it!) My left eye was dominant prior to the surgery but I’ve now retrained my eyes so the right dominates. The glare entering my left eye is annoying to say the least and awful when driving at night since approaching headlights also cause this glare. Dr. Lee never warned me of this possible complication and said she’d never heard of it. Another reason why I believe that Dr. Lee doesn’t know what she is doing.
Note that Dr. Lee wanted to perform the same procedure in my right eye — but in spite of the risks of glaucoma, I didn’t think I could deal with having the same ruined vision in my right eye. So I went to see another Dr. to discuss.
4. I now go to Duke eye center for vision care. The Doc I see is an expert in glaucoma. After several rather expensive tests, he says I do not have glaucoma at all!!! So not only did Dr. Lee ruin my eye, the procedure was unnecessary.
Please do your research before letting Dr. Lee mess with your eye. Get a second opinion about glaucoma diagnosis. Simply looking at the angles inside the eye is NOT ENOUGH. Please learn from my mistake and go to a real expert if you need anything more than a prescription for eyeglasses.
UPDATE: I did contact the provider as suggested in their response to me. Here is the exchange from the emails verbatim with the personal information edited out:
Sep 15 at 4:22 PM
Hello,
Thank you for reaching out to me and I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. We appreciate your feedback and have taken your experience into consideration for the future. We are always striving to improve ourselves and welcome any and all input.
I would like to personally apologize for your experience here. I have been with the practice for about 1 year so I was not here when you had your visit. Since then we have been working hard to ensure patient satisfaction and this was not up to our standards. If there is anything that we can do for you in the future please don’t hesitate to get in touch. I will be sure to handle your case.
Thank you,
Sharma xxxxxx
Eye Institute of NC
6104 Fayetteville Rd. Suite 108
Durham, NC. 27 713
Ph: 919−572−0050
Fax: 919−572−9200
On Thu, Aug 13, 2015 at 10:26 AM, K H
wrote:
Hello,
It was suggested that I contact Sharma to discuss my negative review of the Eye Institute. The review was posted in June and it’s taken me a while to respond. I’m not sure what there is to discuss since, as I understand it, nothing can be done to fix my eye. Yet, if you want talk to me, you can call XXX-​XXX-​XXXX.
Thanks,
Kxxxxxxx

I have seen both Dr. Lee and Dr. Tailor. Dr. Lee was the surgeon that performed my LASIK in January which I could not be anymore satisfied with, I had no idea I would be ²⁰⁄₁₅! I was very comfortable during the entire process from beginning to end the staff and Dr. Lee were GREAT! Dr. Tailor saw me for my annual and was very pleasant too!

I am very pleased with the outcome of the cataract surgeries (both eyes) I underwent over the past couple of weeks. The procedure itself was amazingly comfortable and stress-​free. Dr. Lee is friendly and willing to talk about the procedure before and after.
The office does seem a bit disorganized, however. In spite of my having received email and text reminders, when I arrived on time for one visit I was asked if I could return in an hour, as they were having a staff meeting (they did end up seeing me when I complained). I was asked to return an extra time because they had forgotten to get one measurement prior to my second surgery. One staff person seemed rather cold and businesslike, the rest were OK. Bottom line is, I can see better than I have in many many years.

This has always been the place I have gone to for eye check-​ups, contact fittings, and Lasik procedures. The doctor, Dr. Christine Lee, is always polite and easy to talk to. Some of the other staff, not so much. There are a nurses who are friendly and courteous, but there are also those who seem to be a little tense when conversing with them.
Regarding service, everything was reasonable or as expected. When it is busy, there is a bit of a wait (I waited about 10 minutes today). But all other times when it isn’t, it is short.
The entire Lasik procedure was smooth and easy. Everything was explained clearly with no problems along the way. I had my pre-​op two or three weeks prior to the surgery. The procedure was not painless, but a lot less painful than I thought. The staff helped me through it well, which I appreciated.
This will continue to be my go-​to place regarding optometry!

I would have given this place a better rating. The medical staff were quite good, courteous, and prompt. However, the person that is responsible for fitting people with glasses was very terse and unfriendly. She was impatient with the fellow before me and was quite short with me as well, including when I came to pick up my glasses and had some questions about proper fitting. They never quite fit right but she was getting so frustrated that I just took them as is. I either caught her on 2 bad days or she didn’t like her job. I tend to think the latter. But, hey, get a new job and don’t be so hostile and impatient with your customers!

Everyone was fairly friendly. The place is very clean. However, they didn’t tell me that I had to pay an out of pocket $ 130 for a «contact fitting» until after my appointment. They told me they wouldn’t give me my prescription until I payed that money. Ridiculous. I have never heard of the fee being that expensive. My total appointment took less than 30 minutes, so they got to charge my insurance company plus that fee for 30 minutes. Its not right. I understand a contact fitting fee but not for $ 130, especially when you aren’t changing my contact prescription or allowing me to try new contacts on. What a RIP!