About Your Visit

Length of Appointments

New patient retina appointments usually take longer than general ophthalmology appointments, so we ask patients to take one to two hours of their day to spend in our office, depending on need for special testing. Return patient visits are usually shorter.

Eye Dilation & Driving

Eyedrops for dilation are always used for a retinal examination, so your vision may stay briefly blurred and light sensitive; we therefore request that you plan not to drive for the day of your appointment.

The amount of time that is necessary for pupil dilation varies among patients. You may bring your own sunglasses, or we can provide you with temporary ones when your visit is over.

Planning Ahead

• If you do not complete patient forms through the patient portal or print and complete forms from our website, please arrange to arrive minutes before your appointment time so we can help you complete paper forms in our office.
• Please bring your driver's license and current insurance cards.
• Let us know in advance if an interpreter is needed for the visit.
• If diabetic, please bring snacks/medications.

Insurance

To find out if Long Beach Retina is a participating provider with your insurance carrier, you can contact your insurance directly. We do participate in the Medicare and Medi-cal or Caloptima system and see most commercial health plans.

Please contact our office to confirm. The managed care health insurance market changes rapidly, and specific coverage questions should be discussed directly with your insurance company or our knowledgeable staff.

Emergencies

Any symptom which may indicate a risk to your vision or your life should be reported immediately to your general physician, the 911 service, or any emergency room.