Barry C Winston, OD

Dr Winston is the right optometrist for you. I have a very unusual prescription. After years of going to other optometrists… and being diagnosed, I found that Dr Winston was truly able to help find find me the right prescription and the result is, I am seeing better than ever before. I found out is Dr Winston has been teaching Optometry students at the University of California.
for quite some time. This is very reassuring to me and my eye condition that he is considered an authority on eye issues. I was also was fitted with glasses, as well as, contacts by Beth, who is Dr Winston’s Optometric technician. Beth has helped me with in explaining the necessary eye exercises I have needed to maintain my vision and has been a god-​send in monitoring the vision therapy I have needed. You can go to Costco and spend less. But Buyer beware… we only have two eyes… and I want an expert like Dr Winston and his staff taking care of me.

Dr. Winston lost my whole family as patients after years of us going there. They gave my daughter her old prescription after a new evaluation and then wanted to charge 300 dollars for toric lenses which another Dr said she did not need.

I have been coming here for several years. Like every good Unilocaler, I found this place when I first moved here.
And like a good Unilocaler, I will be clear as to how I rated this office so other Unilocalers can make their own decision.
If we were talking just about Dr. Winston, I would add another two and a half stars. He is a likable doctor who is knowledgeable and straightforward. He keeps up with the latest technology and I think he even teaches at one of the universities. He even remembers that I play golf and asks me about it when I come in.
But since this is an overall review, the best I can do is 2 stars. Although Dr. Winston is a good eye doctor, the pricing is RIDICULOUS.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no intention of price shopping if I need a brain surgeon. I understand that there is something to «you get what you pay for» and when it comes to my eyes, I am not going to Walmart to get the $ 20 special.
That said, I have a pretty standard VSP insurance plan. Yet, I have never actually bough any glasses, sunglasses or contacts from the office. The exam is basically covered, but it has always been cheaper for me to buy glasses from other places (with no insurance coverage) than to buy anything from Dr. Winston (using my insurance).
The turning point for me was when I inquired about contacts. For those of you who don’t know, when you first get contacts, you get an exam and then you need a «fitting» to figure out what kind of contacts work best and to teach you how to put them in without blinding yourself. Believe me, I don’t want to skimp on this because I am the type that would poke my own eye out. All I wanted to know is how much it was going to cost me.
The lady I spoke to knew absolutely nothing about insurance or what was covered. I will give her a break because she said she was new, but she probably isn’t the best person to staff the phone to answer questions. Three phone calls later, including one from Dr. Winston, I finally had my answer. It was going to cost me over $ 200 out of pocket, even using my insurance, and that was just to get an exam and be fitted. That didn’t even include any contacts, which I am sure would have required a home equity loan.
To wrap it up, I called several other places. No, I am not talking about Costco and Sears. I called other 5-​star Unilocal optometrists. Not only was my exam and contact fitting covered, but I still had money left over for contacts or glasses. I get that $ 200 isn’t a huge amount. But why pay for insurance if I still have to pay so much out of pocket?
Dr. Winston — 4.5 stars
Staff — 2.5 stars
Pricing — is a black hole the opposite of a star?

I would actually give Dr. Winston himself 3 stars, because he is an adequate eye doctor, but the one star is for his office staff and wait times. They are so disorganized!
I took my son in for an eye exam. First, we wait for 10 minutes. No big deal. Then, they take him back only to send him back to the waiting room after another 10 minutes because there was a «mix-​up». Then, he waits yet another 20 minutes to get in the exam room.
After my son saw the doctor, he picked out some new frames and everything was fine. I went in a few days later to pay for the glasses and the office staff say they’ll be right with me. 20 minutes go by. I finally say «Excuse me, can I please pay my bill? I have to get back to work», and they say, and nastily so, «Well, we have other patients in front of you». Really? I’m not a patient! I’m just trying to pay a bill! I wonder how long they would have made me wait if I hadn’t said something. Seriously, these people weren’t doing anything constructive so I really don’t see how hard it would be to run a simple card. Needless to say I was fuming when I left.
Like I said, Dr. Winston himself is an adequate doctor, but his staff is rude and their blatant disregard for others’ time is appalling.

Dr. Winston saved my eye sight. When I went to him for a check up, he diagnosed a serious problem and sent me to a specialist. I credit Dr. Winston with the excellent sight I now have. Dr. Winston is always friendly, personable and professional. Dr. Winston even met me at his office on a Saturday afternoon when I called because I had an eye infection. Dr. Winston is a very fine optometrist and I would recommend to anyone. He also cares for my wife’s eyes and she is equally delighted with the care she receives from him.

I highly recommend Dr Winston and his staff. I noticed a small growth on my eye that had me concerned. When it comes to my health, especially my eyes I only want to go to the best. I asked some of my friends and colleagues who they would recommend and Dr Winston’s name kept coming up. Dr Winston and his staff lived up to and exceeded my expectations. I now have a eye doctor I would recommend to everyone. Thank Dr Winston

Dr Winston went above and beyond the call of duty, by assisting my Husband on a weekend, when He got a piece of metal stuck in his eye.
Thank you so much!

Dr. Winston teaches at UC Berkeley School of Optometry. He is on top of all that is new in his field as a result.
I have been a patient of Dr. Winston’s for approximately 20 years. I wear contact lenses. He has changed my prescription as my eyes change and converted me to mono vision which is one eye corrected for close work and the other eye corrected for distance. It works very well for me.
Each annual visit, I get a complete vision screening. I think he is the best in the area and highly recommend him.

I have an eye condition known as Keratoconus. Long story short, I have lived with less than optimal vision for around a decade, even with glasses.
I used to wear soft contact lenses. Due the gradual nature of my condition and how it changes the eye’s shape, soft contact lenses are no longer an option and haven’t been for close to a decade.
I first visited Dr. WInston in March of this year. He tried several ways to get me to ²⁰⁄₂₀. Eventually, he suggested «piggy backing» a hard lens on top of a soft lens on both eyes. After a month of trial and error, my eyes became comfortable enough to remove the soft lenses altogether.
As I type this, I am wearing Gas Permeable contacts and I have ²⁰⁄₂₀ vision. And a permanent smile on my face because life is now in High Def.
Thanks Dr. Winston and thanks to his wonderful and courteous staff.

Our entire family sees Dr. Winston and he’s always done a terrific job. Susan and the front desk staff are super friendly and helpful with picking frames, fitting glasses, and selecting the right combination of features for each different requirement (kids versus adults, scratch coating, indoor/​outdoor lighting, etc.). I would recommend this office for your eye-​care needs.

I didn’t think it was possible to screw up an eye doctor visit, but this visit was a wake-​up call to be more careful in choosing an eye doctor. The staff and the doctor were all friendly, but the burden is left to the patient when it comes to being prepared for the visit and making clear what it is you need. I made an appointment to renew a prescription for contact lenses. The receptionist took down my information, but seemed nervous and inexperienced, and could not answer basic questions about billing. Thinking she was perhaps a volunteer or a new intern, I showed up to the office as scheduled. After taking a first round of tests I met with the doctor, who proceeded to tell me he could not issue a prescription for contacts because I had not brought the box with me. I told him I wasn’t told I needed to bring the box, and I called my previous optometrist’s office to get all of the information that would be found on the actual contact lens box – all of the same info one would need to order contacts online, for example. Dr. Winston still insisted that he needed the actual box and that I needed to come in for another appointment to obtain that prescription. After several more tests, he issued me a prescription for eyeglasses (which I did not need!), and counseled me on the benefits of several procedures (minor surgery among one of these procedures) that I should seriously consider having done at his office. In addition, he bad-​mouthed my previous doctor for not diagnosing me with dry eyes, and for giving me a «generic» brand of contact lenses that was unrecognizable to him, and therefore not legitimate.
I was apparently also expected to bring my own contact lens case to the appointment. The staff seemed unsettled that they had to give me a spare case to remove my contacts, even asking me, «You didn’t bring your own case?» in a semi-​incredulous tone.
I was so surprised by these occurences that I just finished up the exam without any more questions, took the information about the recommended procedures to «think about it», paid my bill ($ 220) and high-​tailed it out of there never to return, all without the contact lens prescription that I originally came for. Towards the end of the visit after much discussion, Dr. Winston agreed that I could bring my contact lens box back to his office and he would «translate» the eyeglass prescription into a contact lens prescription for me without another appointment. Why he refused to do this when I had all of the information on the box already is beyond me. Definitely not going back there! I am not an eye doctor, so perhaps he had good reason for his decisions and opinions, but the atmosphere and communication was so unprofessional that I would rather find a new doctor than deal with this office again.