Dr. Michael Arthur Pachtman, MD

All I can say is Beware, and read the other reviews. Dr. Pachtman told us he could correct our child's double vision and did not. Out of pocket thousands of dollars from what ins. didn't cover and our child has been traumatized. Office staff is unprofessional and rude. Worst bedside manner from a doctor we have ever experienced.

Dr. Pachtman treated my son, Stephen, for congenital esotropia years and years ago. Thankfully, Dr. Pachtman was the best doctor I could have found for my son. He was a pioneer in ophthalmologic procedures back then and I am happy to say that my son's eye problems have been minimized thanks to Dr. Pachtman. Stephen is 35 now and does not wear glasses or contacts. He graduated from a 4 year nursing program with honors not only because he was smart, but because he could see!! If you are smart enough to choose a good physician like Dr. Pachtman, pat yourself on the back. He is brilliant!!

Horrible experience no eye contact when talking to me and didn't ask if it was ok to dilate my child's eyes

The FIRST "red flag" with Dr. Pachtman was when he told me that he could not give an eye prescription for glasses without doing a dilation of the eyes. In fact, he refused saying he couldn't write a prescription unless her eyes were dilated. Insurance doesn't even cover the dilation whose purpose is to check the health of the eye, not to write an eyeglass prescription. I should have walked out then. I let him know that Dr. Underdahl (also in his practice but on medical leave) did not require the eyes to be dilated and was able to write a prescription last time without it. Then he began to taut himself (which I consider the SECOND red flag because he discounted his associate) as following the utmost in pediatric eye care. If they are so ahead of the times, why doesn't the practice use the $85,000 laser machine to read the back of the eye and record it on a computer in a half of a second instead of painful eye drop dilation, especially considering that this is a PEDIATRIC… practice? My 11 year old daughter was in tears (she has never cried during all of her appointments over the past 6 years) the assistant did not even warn her that she was going to put the drops in. She just did it as fast as she could and my daughter kept repeating to me throughout the day,"why didn't she warn me?" This is not good practice for pediatric care. Better would be to explain what is going to be done and how it is going to feel. I order my daughter's glasses online at Zennis and asked Dr. Pachtman if he could give me the PD number. He said he could not (THIRD red flag) and that he did not have the machine and that I would need to go to an Optometrist. I was in disbelief that this was an eye doctor who writes scripts for glasses and could not give me the PD number. I think he noted my disbelief and sent his assistant for a ruler which was not metric and then she returned with one that had metric on one side and he gave me a rough number telling me that is wasn't exact. My daughter has been with Dr. Underdahl (who is in the same practice) for the past 6 years being treated for Strabismus Esotropia diagnosed at the age of 3. This is who I had to compare Dr. Pachtman to and probably why Dr Pachtman got so defensive. Dr. Underdahl gets great reviews and deservedly so. As I read through the negative reviews for Pachtman, I can picture perfectly how true they are. I can also picture that his positive reviews probably involved parents/patients who did not question him. ALL of my daughter's visits with Dr. Underdahl have either maintained her same prescription or brought her prescription down. This is a trend that was expected I was told by Underdahl. However, Dr. Pachtman wrote a stronger prescription (FOURTH red flag) . I believe this will begin to undo the work that has been done to strengthen her weaker eye. I will not be using the prescription he wrote until another eye doctor confirms it is accurate. I will not be going back to this practice since Dr. Underdahl I learne

Put my baby in the completely wrong prescription- went for a second opinion when my child wouldn't wear the glasses and the new dr cut the prescription in half as well as discovered a small degree of astigmatism that was over looked

Dr. Pachtman is truly the worst doctor I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. I have no idea how he ever thought he'd be a good fit for kids and their parents, but he's not only one of those doctors who has a God complex, he's actually very incompetent. I took our son to see him before pursuing vision therapy, which was the recommendation of two optometrists, but I wanted to make sure I covered all my bases and heard from the ophthalmology side before shelling out the money for therapies that might not work. He walked in, and was startled by me and my four kids, and seemed uncomfortable by the idea of my offspring joining us for this appointment. He's a pediatric doctor, and he seems almost disgusted by the presence of children. He had a medical student with him, and he just reprimanded me for not having had my son in glasses sooner. He indicated he just needed a different prescription than what he had (he saw great out of the glasses he was prescribed by the optometrist),… and refused to answer any questions I had. He would interrupt me every time I tried to ask anything. I finally had to say, "Time out. I have tried to ask you several questions, and you keep interrupting me. This is so unprofessional. I would like an explanation of why you think he needs a new prescription." He was even more rude after I called him out, and he just said, "He just needs my glasses. That's all. I don't know how to make that clearer for you." So we went and had the lab, which had just made us a second pair of glasses in the old prescription three weeks before, change his lenses to Pachtman's prescription. And, lo and behold, MY SON WAS DIZZY AND COULDN'T SEE A THINK OUT OF HIS PRESCRIPTION!!! He refused to change them back. He refused to apologize. He stood by his prescription. I'm reporting this guy to the Medical Board because both his disrespect and his incompetence. Terrible, terrible doctor with no personality, a wicked ego, and zero concern for his actual patient or the concerns of the parents.

Dr. Patchman is one of the best doctors I have ever seen. I took my 10 year old daughter to see him because of her optic nerve and when an MRI was needed Dr. Patchman called me on his own time on a Sunday to explain in detail with me the results of the MRI. When we needed to see a neurosurgeon he pointed us in the direction of the best on in Arizona. We continue to see Dr. Patchman twice a year and he has always given us all of his attention and care. He is genuinely concerned with my daughters welfare and I will never take her anywhere. Dr. Patchman is to the point in his appointments and can be very serious, but he is the best. I recommend him to any parent seeking the services of a pediatric eye specialist.

After seeing all these horrible reviews I thought I'd add our review in support of Dr. Pachtman. Yes, he doesn't have the greatest bedside manner but he's never been rude to me or my child. He's very knowledgeable and seems genuinely concerned with my son's vision. Yes, It is a very busy office so at times, you have to wait and sometimes the appointments feel rushed but since there are few pediatric opthalmologists, I expect the office to be busy!

Shouldn't he be barred from practice and pay my daughter lifetime support, she is 11 now and was under 4 years in 2006, when he gave her a wrong medication and treatment. We continue a 7 year nightmare with 3 other eye doctor regularly, but the corneal damage is permanent. Is there any justice to the girl for his negligence.

Sad to say, but I should have listened to all the previous replies on this doctor. I believe in giving a person a chance, but this guy really won the award of worst bedside manner. As a new mom with a 2 year old and concerned about her vision, he has no manners and diagnosed her as being near sighted. I thought that was so strange and told him so as she never complains of trouble seeing. She is sensitive to light, & recently we saw her eye shift, but he dx her with this and stated she needs bifocals and trifocals.??? really! & when i asked him questions to try and understand his remarks were that of a smart allec. wow! as a professional in the healthcare field, i would expect better from an MD. So not going back to follow up. def looking for a new doctor.