Asheville Eye Associates — Local services in Asheville

Thank you to Doctor Masters and the staff at Asheville Eye Associates for giving me near-perfect vision. After 50 years of wearing glasses, it is still strange to be able to drive and watch TV without glasses. I was especially impressed that Dr. Masters took the time to call me after each surgery to make sure I was ok.

I'm slightly embarrassed to suggest improvements to the process since it would have been worth it at twice the cost of time and money.

Some suggestions on improving the patient experience: after the first cataract surgery, I discovered on my own that removing the lens from my glasses on the cataract-free eye helped me to see better. Driving was difficult with this arrangement since the lens in my old glasses had a prism. This was only for a week, but I didn't plan for these issues and a quick glance at my chart would have let them forewarn me of this issue.

after the second cataract surgery, I don't remember anyone suggesting I would need reader glasses to read a book or use the computer. And while readers helped me see the dashboard in my car, it was not possible to drive with them.

I didn't know enough to ask about the time frame from the first surgery to finally being fitted for new glasses. As best I can tell, it is at least six week from having the first cataract removed, waiting a week to have the second cataract removed, waiting a month for everything to heal, having an exam to see if I need trifocals, ordering the new trifocals, waiting two weeks for the new glasses to be delivery, and fitting the new trifocals.

These details must come up weekly with patients at Asheville Eye so it would have been helpful to tell patients of the problems past patients have experienced.

It seems evident to me that someone determined many (hundreds of?) eye surgeries will be performed each month at Asheville Eye and this leaves little time to tell the patient what to expect. An extra five minutes would not allow as many patients to be seen each day, but would improve the overall experience.

With this said, I would recommend Asheville Eye to anyone who needed cataracts removed. Giving me vision I haven't had in 50...

Took both of my kiddos today for their very first eye exam. The girl that checked us in, she had zero personality. BUT, Our tech was amazing, I believe her name was Carla or Carlee?? I wish I could remember exact. She was great with my kids. I would give her a 5 star if I knew it would go only to her.

Doctor was in and out pretty quick. Told me exactly what we needed and done. Which in my case Great, I wanted to be in and out as quick as possible with 3 kids!

The two star goes to the optician office. I went to check in, I was told that I did not need to check in if I was not planning on to purchase today, and only looking, she told me where the kids section was and said if I was going to be using Medicaid that I would have to ask one of the techs to get those glasses out for me. If I was planning to buy, I needed to come back to her and get on the check in list. My son does have 2 different insurances, one being Medicaid so I wanted to look at both selections. I went over to one of the techs(older lady with glasses) to ask for the Medicaid selection and I stood in front of her for several seconds before she even acknowledged me. She asked “what do you need” and I asked to see the Medicaid selection. She then asked if I was on the check in list, I said no, I was told that if I wanted to only look, I didn’t have to check in. She looks at me with disgust and pretty much tells me I’ll have to sit and wait just for her to pull the glasses out. If I would have known I needed to get on the list to just look, I would have gotten on the list instead of the list just filling up when I could have been on it the whole time! I just left. If I wasn’t using Medicaid, would she have treated me differently? Her customer service was horrible. I drove over an hour to AE just because I wanted my kids to see a peds doctor, and as soon as I left there, I went to my eye doctor and they were able to get my son glasses and were helpful and NICE . I’ll just stick to my...

Everyone in the back office - Dr Masters and his assistants provided quality care and were patient with me even as I was anxious have my eye examined, through various testing, and during my procedure. However, I had a frustrating experience at the front desk at my post procedure appointment. She insisted on collecting money towards my deductible even though I have a $500 deductible (clearly stated on my insurance card they have on file) and had already paid the practice close to $1000 for the procedure and testing. I paid the requested money so that I could see the doctor. I followed up with the billing department the next day, and the lady I spoke with, was very rude, unhelpful, and kept cutting me off and talking over me. She insisted they checked with my insurance company prior to my last appointment and were quoted that I owed toward my deductible. But when I contacted my insurance company myself, they stated that an inquiry had not been made in over a month. The poor customer service between the front desk and billing staff is enough to make me seek care elsewhere...