Douglas Katsev, MD - Santa Barbara Eyecare

A true specialist. My quality of life never better. Simple and easy procedures, even cataract surgery and new lens implants. Piece of cake. Dr Katsev gives me confidence. Highly recommend Dr Katsev!

Very professional, top staff. Everyone made me feel at ease for lead up to surgery. Thank you Dr Katsev for the insight into my eye condition and funny banter. All of the staff informative and happy. Which is rare in a office situation. Many thanks to all of you there.

Thank you Dr. Katsev and your entire staff. Everyone I had to deal with during my cataract surgery was supportive and highly informative, answered all my questions regarding the process. I feel extremely comfortable every time I go in for an appointment. Thank you!

Dr. Katsev was amazing. He is very professional, listens and his expertise is evident. He went through my entire visual history with me, quickly figured out what was going on and had a solution. There was no sense of being rushed either, the exams were thorough. I would highly recommend him to anyone having visual issues or needing eye care.

Dr. Katsev is quite simply the eye doc of note. The emergency room Dr at Cottage Goleta recommended him. I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease - giant cell arteritis - which affects the arteries in the head. He is keeping an 'eye' on it because it can recur. I'm in very good hands with him. Thorough, calm & collected, and genuinely nice man who I trust to recommend for eye care.

My husband had cataract surgery but his reading ability was never very good following the surgery; however, Dr. Katsev continued to monitor him, and I believe they had a good relationship. As a result, I made an appointment with Dr. Katsev to check my eyesight as I thought I might need cataract surgery, as well as the fact that I had developed an eye infection. Dr. Katsev is located an hour from my home. Dr. Katsev said he thought I didn't need cataract surgery and that my vision could be corrected by stronger contact lenses. His "contact lens" specialist, also his daughter, was unfortunately not working that day. He gave me an eye injection (painful is an understatement) and a prescription to clear up the infection. As to the infection, it never cleared up (after 30 days) so I consulted another doctor, who prescribed a cream, and the infection was gone in three days. As to the contacts, I saw his daughter at another visit, and she said I needed cataract surgery. When I pointed out the conflict, the two doctors "conferred", with the result that we would try contacts first. There were no sample contacts in the office, but I was sent home with a pair that was supposed to be "close" to the ones I needed. When I tried them on, I could not see, so I called the office and told them I wanted to try a pair of what would be the lenses they were prescribing. I asked them to send the sample lenses to me, as both my husband and I were ill at the time, and it would have been a hardship to drive one hour to their office. I was told the company would not send me the trial pair, and that their office would also not send them to me because of the postage. I offered to pay the postage, but got nowhere, with daughter Katsev yelling at me and citing her new motherhood as a reason for her short temper. Case should be closed. But no. About six months later, I received a bill for the contacts that I never ordered. I sent a explanatory letter. No one called me, but I got another bill. I will acknowledge that Dr. Katsev has had an excellent reputation for many years, but that is fading as he ages, and his bringing his daughter on board has turned this practice into one I would avoid. Santa Barbara has several more qualified and competent ophthalmologists.

I have been seeing Dr. Katsev since we moved to Santa Barbara in 2022. He has been monitoring my severely injured left eye and performed laser surgery on my good right eye to improve my vision to 20/20. He is very professional and knowledgeable yet very personal as well. The office is very well run and I have seldom waited more than 10 minutes to be seen for an appointment. I highly recommend him for anyone seeking excellent eye care.

I got referred to Dr Katsev by UCLA Health for an eye stye on my upper eyelid. He was able to see me the same week and the removal of the stye took just a few minute and was easy and painless. Dr Katsev was very friendly and explained what he was doing simply. I have a very pleasant experience and I am looking (see what I did) forward to my next visit.