Hawthorne Vision Center

Terrifically friendly service! I had a pair of sunglasses adjusted here in a jiffy. Thank you, Hawthorne Vision Center!

I just went for a new pair of glasses so I can’t give an opinion on the dr.
The help from Nina was amazing!!! It was the kind of great help that you would expect from a fancy boutique. She was fashionable, knowledgeable, and helpful.
I had my tiny baby in a carrier and she was able to get me in and out in less than 30 minutes.

I’ve been going to this clinic for three years now and adore them. I always end up with the same technician (I’m sorry I don’t remember your name!) and she is so friendly. She always recognizes me, and has such great energy.
I just started seeing Dr. Ciampa this year for an ulcer in my eye. She was very thorough with her examination, and very clear with treatment recommendations. Once my ulcer healed she helped me find an option for contacts that better matched my lifestyle.
Even paying out of pocket (they offer a 20% discount if you’re uninsured), yhes

I finally caved and got a new pair of nerd goggles. My previous ones were, shall we say, no longer fashionable, plus they were on their last legs. I’m a contact lens person 99% of the time but my eyes need to breathe occasionally.
This is a multi-​visit review, starting from a few years ago:
The doctor told me, point blank, I needed to take better care of my eyes. The brand of contacts I was using were making my eyes grow permanent red lines in their desperate attempt to get some oxygen. Couple that with my resistance to wear glasses (I have extremely light sensitive eyes, sunglasses are my jam) and I was going to look like I had a perma-​hangover if I continued like I was. After a year wearing a new brand, my eyes actually started to heal themselves! Plus they feel so, so much better. I would insert a comment about lubrication, but this is a family site.
On top of the real talk from the doc, I’ve had three super thorough eye exams. Years of getting my eyes did at Costco did not prepare me for that. Dr. Costco never dialated my baby blues, nor make notes about, well, anything.
Being told I have lots of scars on my body proper, I’m used to. Scarring in my eye not so much. Turns out all those times my nugget hit the snow while skiing resulted in some tears of the olé retina. And that means it is partially covered by regular health insurance, not just vision insurance. Thanks, Obama!
My only complaint is that you are handed off to the optician after your exam. It’s not a hard sell necessarily, but there is a definite feeling that you should buy from them and not Warby Parker. I was feeling flush and ended up getting my frames there so if you see me wearing my glasses in public, I expect you to oooh and ahhh. Michael Kors isn’t for basics.

Friendliness eye clinic on this side of town. I’ve been a patient for over 6 years and now my whole family gets seen here.
My kids love it! They have toys, stickers, and suckers for them to enjoy.
I enjoy the eye books and the clear cut pricing. They accept my VSP so I’m usually left paying 30% out of pocket but I know my exact amount before I leave no hidden costs.
They don’t carry Oakley anymore which I’m disappointed about but they do have a good selection of other brands.
Would definitely recommend

Note that the appointment time is actually 10 minutes later than what they tell you. So if you show up ten minutes early, be prepared to wait 20 minutes (or more)

I had a great experience here a few years ago. That was then.
In mid-​December I wondered if I had any vision benefits left. I called HVC and told them I’d like to come in but that it might be on Saturday and could they call my insurance before then and confirm my benefits before I came in. I thought this was reasonable and would make things go smoothly. The woman on the phone acted like it was crazy.
So I go in on ¹²⁄₂₃ (not a Saturday actually) and pick out some frames. They tell me that I can leave with them — no payment. They say they’ll bill. Silence. I call a few weeks later and ask if they billed. They then say they don’t have my insurance on file. Ugh. I give the insurance information to them. I wait. I call. I wait. I call. We’re now into 2015 and I’m worried that the calendar year change will affect things. I wait. Then I get a bill showing that I wasn’t eligible until January 1, 2015. I ask if I can return them. They put me off. I call again. Repeat. Last week I called 8 times and my call wouldn’t go through. I call on Friday and they say they’ll let me know on Monday. No call today. I call at 4:30 today (²⁄₂₃) they say that it has been more than 30 days and I can’t return them.
I could have waited a week and a half and had these covered. I could have returned them in January. Either one would have been fine. But their incompetence is – according to them — going to cost me $ 200. I don’t want these frames enough to pay $ 200 for them! This is just not a reasonable way to treat people.

REALLY POOR CUSTOMER BILLING SERVICE! Although the doctors seem competent and nice, the billing/​financial personnel was rude and unable to listen to my concerns. I had been a long time customer and I was looking to get a replacement for my lost glasses. They told me I had to come in for a vision test, but that they didn’t have one until 10 days later. I told them that I needed to do something since that was my only pair and I am required to have glasses to drive. Although I had worn contacts in the past, I hadn’t been wearing them recently. They told me that they would give me a 5 day pack of contacts. I said ok, but that still leaves me without anything for 5 days. They didn’t offer anything else, so I said I guess I can order 1 pack of lenses. She said the minimum would be 30 day pack. I didn’t want to hassle about it any more, so I said ok. Well I picked them up and wore them the next day, and I got an incredible migraine. I called them the next day and told them what happened and I said something is wrong either with the prescription or the contacts, so to cancel the contact lens order until I can be seen. They said no problem. And lucky me they had a cancellation that morning so I went in. They did the exam and my prescription had changed. So I looked for new frames and pick one and ask the person that was helping me if they have payment plans. He said yes, no problem. Well I order the glasses and then I get to the billing department. They tell me that I owe $ 509. I said I thought you had payment plans, and she said the best they could do is get half today. I told them that I was under the impression that they had a payment plan — meaning making more than 2 payments. She went to talk to her supervisor and said ok they’ll do 3 payments. I said ok. Then I ask her about my refund for the contact lens ordered and she said that she didn’t know anything about that. So I asked her to check with someone else, and she came back and said they can only refund me 85% of the amount I payed because of the order fee. I ask what order fee since I cancelled the next day. She said that they get a charged an order fee and that the customer pays for it. I said that I don’t believe that I need to pay this fee since I cancelled the next day and plus the only reason I was buying lenses was because they couldn’t see me sooner. Again she went to talk to her supervisor, and her supervisor came over and said look we’ll split the fee and that’s it. I started to respond and she cut me off. I told her she is interrupting me and not listening to me. She said that she would have her supervisor call me next day. I leave not having a good feeling about doing business with them anymore. Well the supervisor never calls. I called her later the next day (Friday) and they tell me she is not in that day and that she’ll be in the following week. I leave a message. The supervisor calls Tuesday. I tell her the whole story and she still says you need to pay the 15% fee. I loose it and tell her that I can’t believe that I’m talking to so many people about a 15% fee. Are they willing to loose a long time customer over this? Is it worth it? She said no and said she would refund me the fee. After I hang up, I decided to not do business with them anymore. So I cancel all my orders, I sent them an email and I am still waiting for my full refund for the contacts and for the glasses!

I will admit that I let Wal-​Mart handle my glasses and contact lens prescriptions for about 10 years after I’d moved to Portland, sustained mostly by force of habit and also because I’d never had a problem with my vision that a simple prescription couldn’t fix. As I’ve aged, though, long days of writing and editing on computer screens have taken their toll. After several hours, my eyes started consistently stinging, while increasing eye strain created a dull ache. These two symptoms together got to be unbearable, to the point where I simply couldn’t work anymore. Worse, I stopped reading for pleasure, which has always been a big part of my life.
It was time for a change. I chose Hawthorne Vision Center for the thoroughness of their exams and for the time they spent on their patients. My exam was, by an order of magnitude, unlike anything I’d ever experienced at Wal-​Mart. The exam by Dr. Love was the best, most advanced, most helpful, most educational eye exam I’ve ever had, and it resulted essentially in not only a solution to my problem but an understanding of what was causing it in the first place, the better to deal with it going forward. He detected callouses on the whites of my eyes, probably from many days of cycling without wearing sunglasses, and informed me there was no good way to get rid of them but also showed me how I could deal with the stinging and prevent the callouses from getting worse. He was also a genius at fine-​tuning and balancing my new contacts and glasses in a way that allows me to edit for long periods at a time without that terrible ache. Want more? On at least two or three occasions after my exam, he emailed me to tell me that different kinds of eye drops were there waiting for me (for free), and he asked me to try them and let him know how I liked them.
Everything else checked out – their staff was professional, there were basically no wait times, the glasses I chose were perfect, they stuck with me through at least a couple of contact lens changes to get the right fit and feel.
So yeah, I spent a little bit of extra money on my eyes by switching to this clinic. And it was more than worth it.

Very nice and accommodating. I felt very comfortable, and they didn’t push me to buy their products (like a different eye doc I recently visited). Instead they took the time to figure out what the root issue was with my eyes.
Thank you folks at HVC!

I have never had a regular eye doctor. I just went where ever they had an appt. available. (Lenscrafters, Binyons, Costco) but as of now I have a regular eye Dr. and her name is Dr. Sarah Chewerda. She is AWESOME and from reading her bio on there website I see she is Canadian which explains a lot (love Canadians) Funny, I choose Hawthorn Vision as they took my hubby’s insurance, and he was in desperate need of an eye exam and it was just a short walk from home. For me, I wanted to get back into contacts after not wearing for about 7 years. My vision had changed from just needing glasses for driving, movies to needing them for reading and far away. After a thorough examination and discussion on what I was hoping for with using contacts I tried a single vision lenses with using reading glasses and mid-​range glasses for work. Almost right away I knew this would not work (what’s the point of having contacts if I have to wear glasses all day to see up close). So on my follow up Dr. Chewerda listen to my issues and what I thought I may want to try (multifocal) and she did express concern that for a large % of people, multifocal lenses did not work out very well, but lets give it a try. Well long story short, on the 3^rd try she hit the nail on the head and I am once again seeing without having to wear glasses. Which is great!!! So what I am trying to tell you all is the Dr Sarah took the time and was genuinely interested in making sure I got the contacts that would work for me. I wasn’t just a nameless face in the mall. My husband also had a great visit with her and is currently waiting for his new glasses to come in. I will be going back and recommending Dr Chewerda and Hawthorn Vision to all my neighbors and friends and I also get the wonderful satisfaction of supporting a local business in my neighborhood.

I was fine with them until they kept sending a bill for a random 94.00 that didn’t make sense. every month i called; every month they said a billing «expert» would call me back, never did; they just continued to send me the bill.
once after i called, they did add a sticky note to the bill with a very unclear explanation of the $ 94.00, and threatening to send me to collections and adding a 50% collection fee. and it’s not like these are automated letters. someone at the front office is choosing to deal with customers this way. not one returned phone call.
BTW, i bought about $ 1,200.00 worth of glasses so the $ 94 they say i didn’t pay made no sense and i certainly wasn’t trying to get away with not paying.
so i called and paid the 94.00 and asked for my records so i could go elsewhere. guess what? the records never arrived and i had to call back.
just an example of the front office not really caring about customer service. no place, no matter how large of a frame selection, is worth dealing with a customer circus like this.

I looked and looked for a vision center that I could take my 83 year old father to. He needed cataract surgery and a very patient doctor. First, Hawthorne Vision allows scheduling on line which was very convenient for me. Second, they matched us with a perfect doctor given my father’s needs. Dr. Chewerda was so patient, kind, clear speaking. I told my dad that if he liked her I might come back myself which I will! She explained the whole process and my dad was happy to know they will be able to improve his eyesight significantly with surgery and new glasses. Thank you so much for your help! Well done.

This place is nice enough. The doctors are professional and seem to know their stuff.
My only gripe about this place is that they try to get you to pick out frames after dilating your pupils. How can you make a good choice when everything looks blurry?

Want an eye doctor’s office that doesn’t care about your personal needs? Go no further than Hawthorne Vision Center! Do you like having your valid prescription ignored? Try these guys! How about an office that lies about faxing documents and receipts to you or other medical offices, repeatedly? This is the one!
Seeing less clearly this year at Hawthorne Vision Center. Because you deserve it. Go somewhere else.

5 star service. I was treated very well with every experience. They really went the extra mile without me having to ask. I highly recommend tho business.

the good: I was having what ended up being an allergy issue with one of my eyes and Dr. Love was knowledgable and helpful about clearing that up. Staff has been friendly and it was easy to get an appointment.
the bad: i went to get an updated glasses prescription. my current glasses i had owned for over 7 years and while the prescription was still good, the glasses themselves were having issues. dr love wrote me a new prescription. i gave the glasses they were selling a fair chance, but i really think they are catering to my parents. there was nothing that stood out in their collection and the prices are ridiculous, so i ended up ordering from warby parker (which by the way is fantastic).
i got my glasses and i could not wear them for more than 10 seconds without feeling dizzy and nauseous. i kept trying but it wasnt getting better. yes things looked clear thru the glasses, but what good is that if they made me ill?! i went back into hawthorne vision, they were so sure warby messed up my script — but they tested them and they had not. so they convince me i just need to wear the glasses more and get used to them for a few weeks. I try this tactic, but its not getting better, go back in and ask dr love to just write the script for my old glasses, because those still work great and have never made me feel sick. he confidently tells me, no no his script is the correct one, that he will just write me a new one thats a little less strong.
at this point i have lapsed the 30 days to have warby fix the lenses, not warbys fault. i blame hawthorne vision for telling me to keep trying the glasses. so $ 95 lost.
I am super skeptical that the new script is going to be any better, so wait several months before ordering them, trying to make my old pair of glasses still work, but eventually give in and decide to order glasses off the latest scrip that dr love wrote and guess what? they still make me feel almost instantly sick when i put them on. sure its not as intense, but my vision is also now not as clear. ive been trying to get used to them in small increments, but its not helping.
I just dont understand when I have a script for lenses that work perfectly fine and his script worked perfectly awful, why he couldnt just give me the old script!!!
so now I am down $ 200 — from 2 pairs of warbys that dont work for me and have no functional glasses. thanks a bunch dr. love.

I was referred to Hawthorne Vision Center from my cousin and his wife, and I had a great experience here too. Every person I spoke here from the front desk to billing and dispensary was friendly and helpful. Dr. Chewerda was great, professional, knowledgeable.
Best of all, they fixed a problem I’ve had for years: I like wrap-​style sunglasses, and the two previous places I have used both told me my prescription was too strong to be put in these types of glasses (so I have put up with hard contact lenses and off-​the-​shelf sunglasses). This was simply not true! Mateo had it done in a few days, they work perfectly (and no, they were not some Frankenstein hack, they truly look, feel and operate exactly as they should).
My subsequent follow-​up visit (one for a minor adjustment) took just minutes, and when the optician saw I was waiting, stopped what she was doing to help me, even though there were already two other people working (thanks Jane).
This is what reputable local business should look like. I highly recommend.

My eyesight’s bad. Before Hawthorne Vision, I’d always approached eye exams with butterflies in my stomach, as if I were about a fail an important test. Not so anymore! In fact, I now arrive at appointments practically bursting into song. (Okay, it’s usually because I’m there to see Dr. Love, who shares his name with one of The Most Awesome Kiss Songs of all time…)
Dr. Love is on duty Saturdays, so very convenient for my work schedule. He has a quick wit and an easygoing manner. For weekday appointments, I see Dr. Uhlig. She’s one smart lady whose passion for the job is very apparent. Both docs are caring and take time to explain, as well as listen, while still keeping a tight schedule.
The Opticians are helpful, and will give you honest feedback. They carry a nice selection of designer frames, including my favorite, Lafont. Front desk staff and the technicians are terrific too. They offer online appointments with a quick response, and online bill pay. Saturday hours are a big plus.
I never hesitate to refer friends to Hawthorne Vision. I’ve been a patient there for around 15 years now; there’s no reason to go anyplace else.

I have been going here since I moved to Portland in 2003. I strayed once. Once! It didn’t mean anything, but I sure heard all about it when I crawled back to HV the following year. I apologized. I didn’t realize we were exclusive. I can’t read minds, what?!
Truth is, they always do a thorough, excellent job here. I see no fewer than five people each time I come in — receptionist, doctor’s assistant, doctor, sales associate, and finally the check-​out/​money person. It’s a social experience.
I recently decided to make the occasional switch to contact lenses, convinced they would increase my accuracy at the shooting range. It was becoming hard to concentrate on placement when I was busy trying to balance both my seeing glasses and the required safety glasses on the bridge of my nose. Plus, I do something with my wrists when I shoot that makes me take a fair amount of brass to the face, so I typically wear big safety glasses.
They managed to find just the right contacts for me quickly, despite my astigmatism in both eyes. I was warned that I may have to experiment with a couple different brands and angles, but thanks to the doctor’s experience, her first choice worked great (the proof is in the bullseyes).
Given that I wear glasses 95% of the time, I often spend more time in the store portion of HV rather than the examination room. With the assistance of a sales associate, I try on anything and everything. It can be quite a process given that I cannot see a damned thing when I’m trying on frames. If my process is any indication, they likely spend much time wiping nose prints off hand-​held mirrors here.
So, after seven years, I guess this is my place. I come in every year, taking my eye health very seriously. Besides, I don’t think our relationship could withstand my straying again. I have a good thing going here. I should appreciate it.