Hartville Family Eye Care

Sjögren's Syndrome and Severe Dry Eye … I am a patient with Sjögren's Syndrome, an autoimmune disease that causes dry eyes and a dry mouth due to reduced tear and saliva production. After several years with this disease, I was unable to even open my eyes at night because of their dryness. My vision was affected and blurred. It became almost unbearable as it progressed. Eye drops and gels did nothing to help it. Thankfully Dr Bob Miller at Hartville Family Eye Care told me about a new treatment, Inmode, for dry eye that was located at their sister office in Berlin, Ohio. It is a radiofrequency machine where a technician moves a handheld heated device against your closed eyelids. The device is a newer technology for the treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) and dry eye symptoms. It sounded too good to be true! I researched it on the National Institute of Health, related websites, several other reputable websites, and read many research articles about it. It appeared to be effective and so I scheduled my first visit at the Berlin Family Eye Care office. The office staff, technicians, and Dr Bob Miller were top notch as far as kindness and professionalism. The office was super clean and had one of the largest displays of new glasses I had ever seen. During my treatment, which can take up to two hours from the time you walk in until the time you leave, great care was taken to assure that I was comfortable, and all my questions were answered. What about the results? Dr Miller had been very clear that Sjögren's Syndrome has no permanent cure. He made no guarantees. My first treatment improved my discomfort by about 10%. I was thrilled to have any degree of improvement! Two weeks later the second treatment improved my symptoms by an additional 40% - making approximately a 50% improvement thus far in symptoms and clarity of vision. I recently had a third treatment, and it is too early to discern the quantitative results. Quite honestly, I am very surprised by the outcome to this point but extremely thankful for any measure of improvement! I will initially have four total treatments, scheduled about 2-3 weeks apart. After that we will determine the course of future treatment. The radiofrequency treatments are not covered by my medical insurance and as a result, I am a self-pay patient. This is the only drawback that I have encountered in the process.

I took my 8 year old son yesterday for a first time visit, but also had to bring my 4-year old along. The whole staff was great with children. As it turned out, he needed glasses. The doctor explained everything so well to me and she was very thorough. The whole staff was very friendly and helpful through the whole process. They went above and beyond to make everything easy for us. I would highly recommend this office.

Hartville Family Eye Care is a wonderful eye doctor. All of the staff and doctors are very knowledgable, friendly, and patient. I had a great experience from the eye exam to picking out new glasses and would recommend them to anyone! Thank you to the staff for everything!

I'll start off letting people know my initial visit was great! Very friendly staff and a fairly quick examination. After the examination I was told I was going to get a trial pair of contacts, which was okay with me. But along with picking up my trial pair, I wanted my contact prescription so I could order a few pairs online in the brand I was currently wearing for backups. I am going on a business trip for a couple of weeks and always bring multiple spare pairs of contact with me in case something happens to the pair I'm wearing. Well, I was told that I could not obtain my prescription that I PAID to get because I first have to wear the trial contacts to ensure the prescription is good. Why am I not allowed, regardless of trying on a pair of trial contacts, to obtain my eye prescription that I paid for, to do as I wish? What's the point of this doctor doing the exam we're not confident in the quality of the exam? Additionally, the issue that required a trial pair was that they were claiming I was switching from spherical to a toric lense. However, I have been wearing toric lenses for the past few years. The only difference between my current pair of contacts and the trial pair would be a minor adjustment in prescription and brand. I'm not an eye doctor, but I'm pretty sure if the doctor did her job, I'd have no problem. And if changing the brand is the main concern, which seems odd, would it have happened again if they thought another brand would be best. I doubt this issue would come up during other visits, I'm sure my situation is rare, and placed the staff in uncharted territory. But now I have to find another eye clinic that will give me my eye prescription after I give them money, without hassle. And out of my own pocket, because I used up my insurance benefits at this place.

Great experience from start to finish. Dr Schrock was very professional and kind. Joanna and the other office staff were extremely helpful and very friendly. I’ll definitely continue to visit this office for my eyecare needs!