Health & Wellness Best Posts in Thread: ACE eye clinic

I've had mixed results with ACES Eye Clinic. First time I went, I was not impressed, so got a recommendation for Doctor Jabines who has his clinic at Holy Child. Went to the Holy Cross clinic early....took one look at the packed waiting area and left. (It never ceases to amaze me that the Filipino method packs the sick people into the same hot, humid waiting areas for hours at a time along with unsuspecting healthy people. All the while the few fans circulate the sneezes and coughs around the room. Also, "if lola needs to see the doctor," four generations and their household help all go with her and take up a dozen+ chairs...four chairs alone for the children under 4 years old...while seniors stand.)

What I didn't like about ACES:
1. The same type waiting area philosophy as Holy Child...still packed with generations of patient companions.
2. EVERY visit MUST start with the eye exam for vision acuity. EVERY TIME. I once has a follow-up visit one day later, and they insisted that my vision be checked again....less than 24 hours after the previous visit. Job insurance.
3. I caved in to ACE's insistence that their own labs fill their prescriptions (but will not do that again). At least I purchased the frames elesewhere (i.e. Santillan), but that's another story...one frame has fallen apart TWICE since new 8 months ago.

What I like about ACES:
1. Parking lot....especially if you have a "first in line" morning appointment. You have the entire Hypermart lot to yourself.
2. If you call, you can ask when the next "first in line" slot is available and they seem to be good at honoring that....so no interminable waiting.
3. They do have a top notch sterile operating room for eye procedures. Nice to know that it is there and in Dumaguete, just in case.
4. They now have at least one doctor who is actually based in Dumaguete (Dr. Yap), rather than having all of the docs doing tag-team relay runs from Cebu every few days. I always ask for my appointments with Dr. Yap...she is very good and takes the time to explain things. I had a very long, and enlightening, discussion with her about "how things work" in medicine in the Philippines, and why. (Dr. Yap is a U.S.-born Filipina.)
5. I had subscribed to PhilHealth, and ACES accepted that insurance for some periodic testing I really needed (based on my experience in the U.S. with my eye doctor there.) The money it saved paid for my PhilHealth premiums. (Now that for 2020 the PhilHealth premiums are through the roof for foreigners, and I need to get an affidavit from an attorney attesting to my income, I will skip PhilHealth altogether.)
6. ACES is: Air conditioned. Modern. Seating is new (not falling apart) and reasonably comfortable. Some nice artwork, IMHO!
7. I like the fact that ACES is a stand-alone health facility. It's more along the lines of what I am used to coming from the U.S. It seems to me that I am less likely to get sick if I take every opportunity to stay OUT of sitting around hot, humid hospital waiting rooms. I am seeing more and more stand alone medical offices appearing in Dumaguete (an even Valenica!), which is a good thing in my mind, especially if you can make an advanced appointment or "place in line".

I will continue with ACES for now and continue with Dr. Yap. But I do appreciate all the other comments here and even the negative ones are helpful in building my "defenses" when I go to ACES.

 

My filipino friends also looked at ACE print out given to me for 187,000 p per EACH eye. Yes, no mistake because the ACE eye dr also quoted me that before getting it printed out. I already am done and happy with Dr. Cinco Holy Child for 65,000p each eye.

 

They tried to withhold my prescription, too. I told them I had paid for that prescription and I demanded they turn it over to me. It took one very angry American woman to get it, but I did walk out of there with it!

 

I would have been inclined to say "you keep your prescription and I'll keep my money".
My experience with them has been less than stellar. They wanted P135,000 for a multi-focal, astigmatism correcting lens. I would have had to go to Cebu to get the measurement taken for the required lens. To make a long story short. I went to Cebu Doctors (Lazaball ? clinic) and got it done for P80,000.
If anyone is considering a multi-focal lens implant I have not found it to work very well. Save your money and just get a simple lens.

 

Took my Asawa to ACE eye clinic as she had an episode with her vision and I wanted her to have a medical eye exam... complete with dilation. The "doctor" only shined a light into her eyes and told her that dilation was not necessary. (Arrgh) They then told us that they would not release the new prescription unless we purchased the glasses there, which we then proceeded to do at an inflated cost... more than twice what the shops in the mall charge... needless to say will not go back there

 

Dr Cinco did mine for 47k each eye but that was discounted with PhilHealth. Ace eye clinic said I was not allowed PhilHealth so I told them to cancel my surgery and went with Dr Cinco at Holy child.

 

Nowadays prices are going up but from 61k (August 2022) to 96k seems to me too much.
Holy Child also has an eye clinic and more than one eye doctor to choose. Price quote by Dr. Cinco was 65k. per eye not including pre-testing etc.

 

I went to them after my Tae Baguio with Executive Eye Care in the mall. After an exam and a short chat with the eye Doc. They wanted to do cataract surgery the next day. Paid the bill and did not return. The next two eye exams, (that same day), A cataract was not even mentioned. I understood that they were trying to pay for the expensive equipment in the next room. By the way that Tae Baguio with Executive Eye Care in the mall when they wanted to jack the price by 1500 because the right eye lens was too thick. Well when I did get my new glasses, from the other clinic the right lens was thinner than the the left. So they perjured themselves at the DIT hearing. Am I surprised that BIG BUSINESS here in Dumaguete would lie just for a few hundred peso?

HEII no.

 

I had a eye exam at the Ace clinic and was informed that a cataract was the cause of having only 20% vision in my left eye was quoted a price of 80 thousand pesos to correct the problem, on the recommendation from a friend he advised me to go see Dr. Cinco at the Holy Child Hospital eye clinic, he previously had eye surgery there and was very happy with the result. I can most certainly say that Dr. Cinco did a excellent job in removing the cataract and restoring my eyesight for a cost of 20 thousand pesos less from what was quoted to me at the Ace clinic. I highly recommend Dr. Cinco.

 

we had basically the same issue when getting new glasses for our daughter...would not give us the prescription info until we paid about 3x what we were charged for her glasses at the optic place in the Marketplace...Ace is a scam..look elsewhere