Associated Retina Consultants

Absolutely no regard for patient schedules. Arrived early for a 2:00 pm appointment, was dilated about 2:30 pm, and was not seen by the doctor until 5:45 pm! When asked, the doctor (Xu) shrugged and only looked at the computer and never at my actual eye. The only question he asked was about stress...not about any of the other issues. No apology from him or the front office who believe this is the norm and how vulnerable people should be treated when they seek medical care. His response to my query about waiting so long was to have the front office schedule a future appointment for first thing in the morning. Poor service, poor care. It is criminal that they charge what they do for sub par care. I will be seeking a new eye doctor.

I spent 4 hours for my first appointment, 3 hours at my second, and just 1 hour at my 3rd. I'm now sitting here an hour and a half after my appointment time and was just crudely told that everyone waits 2-2.5 hours. There are 4 people ahead of me so I can expect to wast at least another 45 minutes. I'll drive to Phoenix instead for future appointments. It'll take less time to drive down and back and be a lot more comfortable.

I have read some of the reviews and I was told upon arrival by a very nice receptionist that as a new patient I might be there for 2 1/2 hours. I was also told that emergency surgeries may lengthen my visit. When you request and schedule a new patient appointment, you should be given this information up front. Luckily for me, though, I was in and out in about an hour. I made my appointment at 8:55 thinking that I would have no problem getting back to Cottonwood in time for my husband to use the car to get to an appointment by 1 pm. After hearing that my appointment might last 2 to 2 1/2 hours, I then waited in the waiting room for 1/2 hour beyond my appointment time to be called back by a tech. I was not happy and probably should have been nicer to the tech. However, when all was said and done, I was seen by the doctor and was able to leave at 10:00...an hour after my scheduled appointment. The problem today is that we as patients are required to be cognizant of the doctor's time but they are permitted to abuse our time as if our time is not important. If my appointment is at 8:55, I should be called back at 8:55. Either that or the scheduler needs to schedule fewer people. It's a pretty simple process to schedule enough time between patients to respect the patient's time and ensure timely treatment. With this said, everyone I saw was very nice and I do apologize to the tech who has no control over scheduling but still had to listen to my complaints.

I know most of these reviews are complaining about the wait times, but let me just explain why that happens. It's because of people like me who come in with an emergency and the doctors care enough to take care of it Dr. Gaitan is amazing. He did emergency laser retinal tear surgery the day of my appointment AND scheduled me for 6am the next day in Phoenix where he did a surgery in my right eye for retinal detachment. Also, all of the techs Chelsea, Taylor. & Ashley were all so so kind. Everyone made me feel very cared for and kept me calm despite the urgency of the surgeries. Thank you Dr Gaitan.

We were there yesterday. Appointment time 1:00 p.m arrived 12:50 p.m we didn't complain or anything until they poured dilated eyedrops in my son surgery eye. An all the doc did was stare at my 3 year old. So I felt the dilation eyedrops wasn't necessary because the doc didn't try to look into his eye. Now my son is complaining that his eye hurts. He can't see, his reaction is worse. I tried telling the doc why did they poor the dilation eyedrops? when he's not even going to try to check inside his eye. The doc responded "I can harass him more if you want me too" my son is only 3 years old soon to be 4. We have been taking 5 eyedrops since his surgery for 6 days now an he's been doing so good not complaining at all an his eye was healing perfectly fine. Until 4-30-25 after we get back to our room it was time for his eyedrops he normally takes. I open his right eye an it's really really red looks irritated worser than when we showed up for his appointment he was doing 100% fine. Now my son giving me a hard time to poor his eyedrops complaining it hurts. He didn't complain this much even after his surgery, even after his surgery we did poor eyedrops an he was ok with it. But now it's the next day. 5-1-25 he still can't open his eyes, he's been crying an complaining that his eye hurts. Idk what to do. I want to schedule him an appointment to have it checked but I'm guessing he won't be able to do anything to make it better. I'm just sad for my son. He left the retina building feeling worser. And by the time we left I noticed it was 4 pm. It was a follow up to see how his eye was healing from the surgery he did on 4-24-25 so I'm like ok, it's a follow up, this should be quick, instead I had to keep telling my son will get something to eat when we finish seeing the doctor. So we waited around for 4 hours I left feeling upset.

My parents come here for treatments. It is almost criminal to make patients wait 2 hours 45 minutes for their appointments! Do better! Although, it seems to be a common complaint, so they don't care.

Very pleasant staff and retinal specialists. (Especially Dr.Welch) Note- The only minor issue is that you should expect to be there a while. They are very busy, and I can understand that, but my longest wait time in the lobby was after they dilated and did the pressure and vision test on my eyes and then went back in the lobby to wait for the doctor was ~2-2 1/2 HOURS on my last few visits. Luckily, I had my headphones, so I was able to listen to music and podcasts while I was waiting in the lobby. So, to sum it all up...if the waiting time between eye test and seeing the eye doctor was DRASTICALLY improved, I would "easily" give a 5 star rating.

Had a 2.45p appointment- at 5.05pm I was still waiting to be seen by the Doctor...Poorly managed practice. Dr. Was rude and obnoxious. They are in it over their heads.