The Floater Doctor

I started to have serious floaters in my right eye from April when I traveled to Shanghai. The major one was like a «wiper» which moved from one side to the other of my eyesight. I was diagnosed to have PVD and received YAG laser treatments several times in Taipei in May 2015 but it improved only by 50%. I didn’t continue the treatment in Taipei because the local doctor said that’s all he could do for me.
I am lucky enough to find Dr. Johnson’s information from his website in July and learnt a lot of valuable knowledge from his sharing. I flew to Irvine in the last week of October and received treatments from Dr. Johnson 3 days in a row. Although I still have minor floaters, my eye condition has improved at least by 80% from 50% in May and I feel much more comfortable and happier now.
Dr. Johnson is not only extremely patient and professional, but also is very capable to identify the right floaters which bothered me the most and eliminate them. Seeing Dr. Johnson and receiving treatments from him is definitely the best medical experience I have ever had in my whole life. Thank you so much, Dr. Johnson.

I’m a sixty year old male from NY. I’ve had detached retinas in both my eyes and subsequently developed terrible floaters in both. My floaters are not the easily treatable dense type of floaters but are more numerous and diffuse. Dr, johnsons term for them is «opacities». I’ve now flown across country on four separate occasions to be treated by Dr. Johnson. He’s highly skilled at what he does and is a very caring and compassionate physician. My left eye is now totally clear and my right eye is 90% improved. At this point, I’m a very happy patient.
I’d previously visited and was treated by floter specialists in Florida and New Jersey. The difference between them and DR. Johnson is he’s willing to spend a lot of time per session in treating you. I also feel with his specializing in treating floaters is he’s developed skills and techniques beyond every one else. If floaters are making your life miserable you owe it to yourself to go see Dr. Johnson. Your review helps others learn about great local businesses.
Please don’t review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if you’re connected in any way to the owner or employees.

AWESOME… This is the FIRST TIME I’ve had an hour and a half consultation with a doctor. He had me fill out the patient information forms, but there was one segment in which I needed to draw what my floaters looked like. Despite my talent of only being able to draw stick figures, he was able to recognize that I had a treatable Weiss ring. He had a dry erase board with a cross section diagram of the eye. He proceeded to explain the anatomy of the eye, and the types of floaters that he would or would not be able to treat. Based upon my age he was confident that he would not have a problem treating my floaters. Instead of giving me a piece of paper with the disclosure with the fine print, he explained everything that was on the disclosure with the use of his dry erase board. He thoroughly explained the pros and cons regarding the use of a laser to treat eye floaters. The percentage of success, and the step (s) needed to remove the majority of the floaters were also given. After the hour and a half consultation, I was then given the disclosure that I did not read. I did my homework, before I made an appointment to see him. According to the Internet, there are only 3 doctors that use the Yag laser to treat vitreous floaters. Fortunately, the doctor that I wanted to see was Dr. James Johnson, and I’m thankful that his office is only 2 hours away from my residence.
I am very thankful that he was able to treat my floaters right after my consultation today. The consultation took longer than the treatment. It was painless and non-​invasive! There was NO downtime! My husband was afraid that I would not be able to drive afterwards, but I would have been able to drive. I’m thankful he drove, because at least we were able to use the car pool lane.
Seven hours have passed and I no longer see the annoying Weiss ring floater with its accompanying floater that trailed in front/​behind it all the time. The LARGE cloud (hazy vitreous) is no longer present, there’s just a small cloud that is floating around. I could not handle the large hazy vitreous because I rely on my left eye for central vision, since I only have peripheral vision in my right eye. Before being treated by Dr. Johnson, I would get dizzy because the Weiss ring would go one direction as the hazy vitreous would go the opposite direction.
You’ll be able to see videos on his website which explains the Yag laser treatment of vitreous floaters.
I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND Dr. James Johnson to anyone that is suffering with those annoying vitreous floaters.

Dr. Johnson is just one of three practitioners in the world able to perform noninvasive laser removal of floaters. he is extremely eager to fully educate his patients on eye health and what he can realistically achieve. My own eye was too extremely occluded with a large volume of floaters. He did detect a retinal tear and got me into a walk in appointment in Santa Monica to get laser reattachment. Less than two hours later it was done. What is your eyesight worth? Finding the best of the best to save your eyes.

I will never forget September 2008. I was driving from Einstein Bagels when large clouds appeared in my left eye. At first I was opportunistic they were dust. They weren’t. Suddenly I became a floater sufferer. I was in a living hell where every time I moved my left eye from left to right two large clouds floated in my vision. If I was seated still, at a red light for example, the two large clouds would slowly travel down my line of vision. Immediately I made appointments with eye doctors. The biggest fear of a floater sufferer is a retina attachment. After visits with a couple of ophthalmologists, I was told that there is nothing that could be done and that I would have to live with it. Where I had cherished my time hiking in the sun, I now avoided the sun. Hiking had been replaced by spending Saturdays in the indoor palaces of the Strip. I was alive but spiritually dead. When I described my condition people thought I was a worrier.
I could not accept the scenario to just live with it. I started getting more assertive with my research. The frustration that floater sufferers live with is that eye floaters are considered a benign condition in the ophthalmology community. The attitude is that it is not leading to blindness, so live with it. Eye floater sufferers will come to the realization that there are only three practices in the United States that perform yag laser surgery on eye floaters. There is Dr Geller in South Florida, a doctor in Virginia, and Dr. Johnson in Irvine California. I was leaning toward Dr. Johnson to perform my surgery. Before finally making up my mind, his on line videos of performing the laser surgery convinced me to take off from work and drive to Southern California to have it done. This was my California dreaming.
This surgery was so important that I took out four years of my Walmart shareholder stock to pay for the procedure and staying in Southern California. At the time, the laser procedure for one eye costed $ 1,400. Now it is $ 1,850. Another sad thing for floater sufferers is that the health plans do not cover this procedure.
About 300 miles from Las Vegas, I was in Dr. Johnson’s practice. It is in an office building walking distance of the Orange County Airport in Irvine. Taking into consideration that Dr. Johnson is the only ophthalmologist that totally specializes in the treatment of eye floaters, it is surprising that he does everything in the office. He was the receptionist, the person that I talked to on the phone and the doctor.
Just like anybody else, I have a fear of having shots in my eye. Believe me I could of used a beer. The procedure started out with me drawing the floaters. A few minutes later, Dr. Johnson gives a visual exam. Then he dilated my left eye. About twenty minutes later, the procedure begins. He secured my head in a head rest and placed a lens over my left eye. What was amazing is there was zero discomfort. With immaculate skill he aimed the laser in my eye and tried to eliminate the floater. I knew that something was happening was when some of the floater material turned to bubbles moving up my eye. Actually they were dissolving. In the background was Elvis Costello music.
After the treatment, I paid the money and drove to a motel. Dr. Johnson’s office is near Disney Land. I stayed there for the night. When I woke up, there was still the floaters. Dr. Johnson was very approachable, and scheduled a followup visit later in the day so that he could spend time with his family and I could sight see (with floaters).
At night time I sat through a followup session. It was actually relaxing. There was more improvement but still some floaters. I could tell that he cared because he was getting frustrated trying to remove them. He did not charge for the follow up visit. As Dr. Johnson says, there is a percentage of improvement change in eye floaters. I left his office being able to go outside.
Dr. Johnson’s contribution helping eye floater sufferers extends to his discussion boards. It was a virtual community where Dr. Johnson answers eye floater sufferer’s questions. But just like Unilocal Talk it deteriorated from trolls. Dr. Johnson has adjusted the programming to eliminate this activity.
A few years have passed since this surgery. I have prayed and have filled my soul with hope. My eye floaters have faded to the point that I have returned to hiking. If you read my hiking reviews you would never think that I suffered through this condition. At the point that my eye floaters started to fade and I returned to hiking and more traveling, something major came into my life. It was Unilocal.
If you are suffering from any condition; hopefully this review has a moral. When the majority of people tell you that you have to live with this condition, go with your instincts and go with what you feel is right. Most of all have hope.
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