Distefano Regional Eye Center

Excellent professional service with compassion. Wonderful staff very friendly and helpful. Doctors DiStefano and Ridner both excellent. I'm very pleased with all the services provided.

My mother was referred to Dr. Courtney Ridner who is part of this group. She was scared and stressed after suddenly losing sight in one eye. Dr. Ridner was condescending and rude - immediately telling my mother that the symptom was due to her failure to take care of her health. Not only was his lack of a bedside manner uncalled for, but his assumptions were wrong. Luckily, upon seeing a specialist, she was treated with dignity and respect and it was found that her symptom was not caused by anything she had done.or not done. Honesty is valuable in medical care - but there is much to be said for forethought, compassion, and humility.

Katelin is fantastic! She has worked diligently to get the best possible eye correction prescription possible for my eyes. Shows empathy, really listens and is so encouraging. Thankful for her care. (Previous RK, Post cataract surgery)

The front desk is horrible. The worst customer service i have experienced. Upon arriving for my appointment their parking lot was full. Both another patient and myself had to park in someone else's lot down the road. Because of covid precautions they have their lobby at half capacity. They proceeded to rudely tell the elderly woman in front of me that she would have to go wait in her car because their lobby was full.

She tried to explain to them that her daughter had dropped her off cause the lot was full and she couldn't walk that far to her car. They told her she could stand outside then if she couldn't walk to her car. A man in the lobby offered up his seat, and the secretary yelled out saying it wouldn't matter cause there were two of them (the patient and her daughter) so they'd still have to wait outside.

I understand covid safety, but the situation should've been handled better. By then I was 20 minutes late to my appointment, partly due to being unable to find parking. She told me i was unable to be seen but asked if I'd like her to ask to make sure, i said yes. As she walked away she proceeded to openly say rude remarks about me loud enough for me to hear.

I understand being frustrated that i was late, but you shouldn't be talking rudely about customers, especially where they can hear you. Regardless, their lobby was completely full, even if i had been on time i doubt it would've made a difference as they had 20+ people waiting already. A bad experience overall. I will never be back.

I had a very successful laser cataract surgery performed by Dr. Ridner, on 7/16, however, his front office staff leaves something to be desired. The lack of correct communication to patients is atrocious. I was given an appointment in writing for a 24 hour post op and when I arrived I was told that it was performed the day of surgery. No one told me or my husband it had been canceled.

Then they told us to come in for my one week post op on 7/23(my husband and I BOTH heard ONE week post op). When we arrived for my appt. on 7/23, we were told that my post op appt. was 7/30, as Dr. Ridner does his post ops 2 weeks after surgery, not one week. When I arrived 2 weeks after surgery, I was given my "one week" post op instructions(dated 7/23) proving to me that the post off should have been done on 7/23.

The office definitely needs more training in CORRECT communication. I am writing this review in the hopes that this problem will be corrected in the future. UPDATE: I just heard from the office manager, and she apologized for their miscommunication and the inconvenience experienced by my husband and I. She assured me that they are immediately taking steps to improve communication in the future. I now feel confident that this will not happen again.

I can't recommend Dr. Courtney Ridner enough. He performed cataract surgery on my husband and it couldn't have gone any smoother. We were recommended to him by another doctor in town and were told Dr. Ridner has impressive training and credentials making him one of the best qualified cataract doctors around. He has an excellent manner about him and we felt very comfortable right away. The results were terrific and we wouldn't hesitate to recommend him.

Dr. DiStefano is a kind, caring, and extremely skilled professional. I have some complexing health issues, and others in her specialization offered no reasonable solutions for my severe eye pain and servere dryness. On the day of my exam in the summer of 2019 she devised a temporary treatment plan that gave me immediate relief. She improved my quality of life for the second time in my life, the first was in the mid 90's with RK surgery.

Also in the last few months I've gotten to know Dr. Ridner as well, and he is very impressive, skilled, confident, and professional. They form quiet a team that give me full confidence in their findings and recommendations for the longer term solution once the pandemic subsides to a safer level. I must give a shout out to their entire staff of associates top to bottom, nice, friendly and well skilled! I have recommended this family-like friendly business to many people in my circles!

Changed my life, Dr D and her team took great care of me, I went from having to wear contacts and reading glasses to 20/20 vision near and far. I no longer have to use reading glasses to see a menu and can drive with much more confidence. I was afraid to have Lasik surgery. I felt better when I found out that they did it blade free. most of the discount Lasik places save money by only using the shaping laser, they cut the flap with a scalpel (NO THANKS).

At Distefano Eye Center they use a laser for both parts. I paid a little more, but I am so happy with my results. I had trouble with my night vision for a long time but even it has returned. I highly recommend Dr D and her team. (plus they are really nice)

I went here as a new patient for an eye exam recently. I have suffered from severe health issues for the last several years. I decided to decline having my pupils dilated because I was nervous (the medical community has let me down in the past, reassuring me that things were safe that actually caused my multiple health issues). The nurse who took me back to the room was VERY nice, understanding, and compassionate of my decision to decline.

She did explain that they may not be able to see as much without the dilation but she completely understood why I was choosing to decline and that all things can potentially have side effects. Then Dr. Distefano came in (after I could hear her in the hallway right outside my door trying to discredit my health issues being related to why I've been seeing floaters).

She was not compassionate in anyway and in fact asked (sarcastically) just how has the medical community let me down other than the one time I had mentioned. I wanted to tell her it was really none of her business because the truth is not what she would want to hear. Rather than being compassionate (if she had been, she may have been able to reassure me of the safety of having my pupils dilated) she was rather condescending.

I think it will probably be fine to go here if you have no issues but I wouldn't expect any compassion if you question anything. Again, the rest of the staff was very nice but I was not impressed with the actual doctor. I will definitely not be returning.

I sat for an hour and a half waiting for an appointment only to be told that they were unprepared to see me and blamed QTC and the VA. Seemed to be upset with me that I was a bit miffed about being made to wait. She said that she'd been working for an hour to get my paperwork straight with the VA. I asked her why she didn't come out and tell me that initially instead of saying that I was next in line to be seen. She then said perhaps she wasn't the right doctor to see me. I agree. Stay away. If they run the back of the shop like they run the front, it's a bit worrisome.

I cant thank Dr Ridner and his staff enough! I am from North Carolina, and oddly enough, my wife and I found ourselves in Chattanooga after a local eye doctor said he 'couldnt remove' the cataract on my wife's second eye. She had been blind in that eye for 10years and by His grace, our new neighbor had just moved from Chattanooga and while telling the story to her, she recommended that I call Dr Ridner's office.

She and her husband had both had cataract surgery by him and her husband's cataract was also one where another eye doctor had said there was nothing to be done, but Dr Ridner was able to help him. They were both insistent, so we called and before I knew it, Dr. Ridner called us personally. We sent records for him to review and although he made no promises, we ultimately went down there, and she had surgery.

She went from not being able to seeing anything but light, to now seeing 20/25! We were so impressed with him and the care given by his staff that I recently made two separate trips and had my cataracts removed too. I now enjoy not only knowing my wife sees so very well, but I no longer have to where glasses myself. We are so very thankful. Its a blessing and we both thank God for Dr Ridner and his level of care that he provided.

Dr. Ridner did a wonderful job treating my daughter for an eye condition that had bothered her for some time. He and his staff really put her at ease for a procedure and she is doing very well now. We couldn't be happier!

Dr. Ridner and Staff are both professional and very nice! My grandmother had Cataract surgery by Dr. Ridner in 2015 and she has been pleased ever since. I recommend this office to everyone I come in contact with that has ocular problems! It's very obvious this office is in it for patient care and not just for the money which is hard to find in todays world. He took the time to thoroughly explain the procedure and answer any questions myself and my grandmother had.

I just want to respond to the previous reviewer and say that I apologize if you had a bad experience with me or at our office. I take great pride in caring and knowing my patients, and I appreciate any complaints or ways we can improve. When it comes to your comments about patient outcomes with your family member and friend, I want to address that fully.

I've NEVER had a patient go 'blind' after cataract surgery. I've looked for a specific chart and I'm not sure if you even have the right physician. I'm more than willing to speak to you or your family members offline about any care that I've ever provided. Cataract surgery is a very safe procedure with very low complication rates overall. With that being said, there are a number of other factors that contribute to someone's vision that can cause a decline in vision (Diabetes, Glaucoma, Macular Degeneration, Corneal dryness and degeneration) to name a few.

We report our results to national registry, and I've had a consistent 99% patient satisfaction rating, along with a complication rate way below the national average (.003% compared to 4% nationally). Again, I am more than willing to speak to you or meet with any family member at time.