UI Optical - University of Iowa Health Care

We have been coming here for over three years. The staff are wonderful and so very kind. I'm an adult patient but we are always treated with respect and kindness. It makes our sometimes long days bearable. I am a retired geriatric rehab nurse. I totally understand when staff is where they each want to be in their daily routine and patient interactions. When staff is happy patients are also happy.!!! When we are on the unit it does my heart good to see staff interactions with patients. Now I totally understand that not everyone is happy all the time. But I have been on the unit at different times of a shift. It seems to me this unit is managed very well. I have to comment on a particular person Jennifer who also works for Dr. Andrade. This young lady has the most infectious smile. She is just a sweetheart. Please understand that each person who has taken care of me is absolutely wonderful. But Jennifer has that little bit of extra patience and such a gentle way about her. The unit has so many wonderful people. I feel like a kid in a candy store when I have an appointment. You are all so wonderful.

Had an operation in 2022 from Dr. Thomas Oetting, had 20/20 vision in my only good eye, and the lens had slipped. I needed a procedure to replace that lens. I left there with 20/150 vision. My eye sight in my ONLY GOOD eye was ruined! He damaged my retina and cornea which needed a partial transplant. Think twice before having any procedures done there! Thankfully after 3 years the doctors in Peoria have given me better vision - 20/70, but my life will never be the same. The rating should be 0 stars!

I have referred several patients there, and they have provided the best possible care and treatment.

Well just had my eye appointment. They got me some great contacts, then told me there was a $140 copay due immediately. I said I could pay it on Friday, they said nope. And repo'd my contact right then and there, grabbed them out of my eyes and everything, and sent me on my way said I can come back and get them Friday then. I tried to explain I live over an hour away and would have to take another day off work in order to do that. And that wasn't an option. So, I'm sorry, but I didn't even receive my prescription for glasses or contacts. And this is the third, and last time I will ever go to the eye clinic at the university. Nice perfectly wasted trip and wasted day off work. I'll just stick with my eyesight. It's better than the embarrassment of having contacts repo'd out of my eyes. I am not happy. The first time I went in 2015, they lost my records and said I couldn't legally drive without glasses, a year later they said I had 20/19 vision, and now they do this. I will never, ever go back to this eye clinic again. I'd rather be blind. Every other place in the university hospital is great. But the eye clinic in the main hospital is complete trash, and not worth the wasted trip. Maybe had they told me about the copay before me appointment, that would have been nice.

Went to the IRL clinic! They are still using the outdated method of putting eye drops (from which you cannot properly see for a few hours) instead of taking proper pictures of the retina. I have had pictures taken multiple times before at different hospitals and they are great but when I insisted I couldn’t do eye drops because I have to go back to work they had my retina picture taken with some outdated machine which didn’t capture the entire area! So bizzare! And the doctor I saw Vera Howe is the rudest doctor I have ever met here. She was dismissive and got pissed about me insisting on the retina picture and refused to even look at the picture but I still got charged full price for her “interpretation”! Pathetic doctor and pathetic management. Avoid at all costs.