Dr. Alan C. Westeren, MD

A true professional with a passion for his profession. Dr. Westeren took a great deal of time with my son performing a detailed examination. He followed up with further recommendations to Shiley Eye Center and continued his involvement to result in the best treatment plan for the future. I highly recommend Dr. Westeren to anyone that requires the service of an eye specialist. I wish everyone in the medical profession delivered this level of care.

I wish I read these reviews before visiting Dr. Westeren's office. I have severe dry eyes and was coming in for a second opinion on my treatment. While taking my ocular pressure readings (with a handheld device that I've never seen in my 10 years of receiving eye care) Dr. Westeren damaged my cornea. He prescribed antibiotic drops/ointment for the tear and told me that it should heal in a few days. He also mentioned that when the numbing drops in my eye wore off I may feel some pain. That was an understatement. A few hours later I could barely open my eye and was in constant pain. My primary opthalmologist was able to see me urgently and provide an eye band aid (like a contact lense) which immediately relieved the pain and is currently allowing my eye to heal without constant pain. The injury is still not healed and he dilated my eyes to an extreme level for some reason, so I can still barely see more than 24 hours later. I've been dilated DOZENS of times and am used to the effects wearing off around 4 hours later. Additionally, I told him that I had an important meeting and he kept talking and talking and would not let me leave the office without being extremely rude. He had no receptionist, so mid-visit he had to help another patient for 20 min while I sat waiting for him. The "new patient" visit took a full 1 hour and 45 minutes. Not much of that was waiting, to be clear, Dr. Westeren spent a lot of time talking about opthalmology and explaining things to me. His response to my call stating that I was distressed due to extreme pain in my eye from the injury he inflicted was to have his secretary send a message saying that with dry eyes this type of damage is common. In my experience, it is not. Go see Dr. Ochabski instead. She's excellent.

My father has been seeing by many different ophthalmologists in his life. Somehow his vision was getting worse. I heard great things about Dr Westeren and decided to take my dad to him. He did amazingly thorough eye exam on my dad. He really cared about my dad's health and vision. Great teaching about his eye conditions to me and my dad. His vision has been stable since going to Dr. Westeren. We appreciate how much Dr Westeren shows great interest and concern for my dad health and keeping vision safe.

I had an emergency while I was on vacation in San Diego. I called around several clinics. Dr Westeren's receptionist was so nice and booked me after business hours on the same day. I went to see Dr Westeren at 6 pm. He spent a good time examining my eyes (not like in and out 15mins exam). He gave me a consultation note to take home to see an ophthalmologist in my home town for a follow up eye exam. I was quite amazed with whole experience I had in his office. Many thanks to Dr Westeren and his receptionist.

Dr. Westeren all but told me my eyes are falling out of my head. While doing a routine exam he also decided to diagnose scoliosis and dermatitis. In addition, Dr. Westeren over dilated my eyes and I could not be outside or near a window for three days. Finally the office is shared and a little better than an old motel room. Needless to say, I have decided to make a second appointment elsewhere.

Make sure you get a second opinion!!! . I was given a false diagnosis on a supposedly serious condition. I went after to a specialist who after a long series of tests told me I was completely fine. The tools dr Westeren used to measure my eye pressure and other stuff were old and probably not properly functioning. ( I will say that his assistant nurse was very kind and eager to help. )

Unreal and scary. Read the Yelp reviews. I've left my contact lenses in too long before and hurt my cornea while removing them. When that happened, my local Opthamologist would prescribe Vigamox and remind me to take out my contacts every week. When I left them in to long on a business trip to San Diego, I called and spoke to a man who answered the phone stating he was booked all day but would try to squeeze me in. I arrived at an old, run down Acupuncture Office to find the Dr. Westeren was the ONLY one there. No front desk staff, no nurse. Just him. He claimed his other patient was running late, but he'd take me if I was done the horribly old fashioned paperwork he handed me to complete. Once in the exam room, he chastised and lectured while over dialating my eyes. When shining bright lights into my eyes that were very sore to look for Glaucoma, he would 'shush' me when saying how much it hurt. I left with prescriptions that actually made my eyes feel WORSE over the next day. In fact, I spent the following day in a daze, suffering from light sensitivity, drowsiness, worse redness, itching, burning and my upper eyelid was swollen and red. Why? Because he sent me out to get a prescription for the same drops he used to dialate my eyes, and eye creams that cautioned of all the other side effects I suffered through. Oh... and he told me he I probably have Glaucoma. Nice. I WILL get a second opinion. Save your time, your money and your sanity and go to a better doctor.

Wow! My husband, and i are still in shock from our experience at this practice a few hours ago! If there was an option for no stars, I would be pressing it! The first impression I we got was why are we being seen at 7pm for a surgical procedure. Then as we waited for my husband to be seen, both receptionist left so we were the only ones in the tiny lobby waiting. We waited an hour over our appt time to be seen. Once called back to the small dark room that was overwhelmingly crowded. My husband was there do to a foreign object lodged into his eye and needed it to be surgically removed. We were already very nervous to undergo such a critical procedure. Also nervous about the time off of work because he couldn't afford to miss work being it was his first day. We knew the procedure needed to be done, but we felt so uncomfortable. The doctor first did not answer any questions, he demanded my husband shut up and let him do his job. He said "I don't tell you how to weld at your job don't tell me how to do mine!" (My husband isnt a welder). My husband never once said anything besides questions on the healing time. He refused to answer any questions. I was on my phone texting our child and he made me put my phone away. I went to put it in my purse and he said no set it on my desk and silence it. I did as he said. While he asked my husband to read some letters standard, eye exam. We felt a little better until my husband said he could not read some of them and he insisted he did it anyway. Then my husband's eyes were already sensitive and the doctor scolded him for not being able to open them wide. After he finished the exam he wanted to go over options, risks, and if our questions were answered, and sign a consent to the procedure. My husband said you have not answered any of my questions and was told his questions were irrelevant, and he will get this procedure done. During this time my phone lit up on his cluttered desk he then stops scolding for a second, leans over my side and asks me what I am doing reads my phone and trys to grab it! My husband immediately stood up and said i am absolutely not consenting to you touch in me anymore than you have. We both stood up and the doctor almost sat him back down and said common you will get this procedure done. We literally ran out of that office as fast as we could. When we got outside he was watching us through the his window. He definitely seemed to be under the influence of some drug. He was very scary, rude, insensitive, and unprofessional! We are horrified from this experience. Don't waist your time on this mad man! He is a horrible doctor, and should lose his practicing license!