Your vision matters

A retina specialist is a physician who has followed medical school and their ophthalmology residency with two years of additional training in medical and surgical diseases of the retina and vitreous.

RCSD was founded in 1979 by Dr. Paul Tornambe on the principles of excellence and integrity in care for patients with retinal conditions. Each of the current physicians were hand-picked by Dr. Tornambe, and have been in practice for well over a decade.

RCSD specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting the vitreous, retina, and macula. Disease states that we commonly treat include age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, macular holes, epiretinal membranes, retinal tears, retinal detachments, and vitreous floaters. RCSD does not provide primary eye care services such as prescribing glasses, cataract surgery, or refractive surgery.

While an eye injection sounds like a childhood nightmare come true, it is actually not usually an unpleasant experience. Most patients can’t even believe we have given them an injection once we are done. We accomplish this by maximizing anesthesia, minimizing the use of disinfectants which are the main source of discomfort following injections, providing prescriptions for pain-relieving drops if needed, and helping patients to maximize the health of their ocular surface. We see a lot of snowbirds RCSD, and we take great pride in most telling us how much less painful our injections are than what they receive back home.

The physicians at RCSD are committed to helping their patients to the best of their ability. While most of our treatment recommendations are conservative and evidence-based, they are also highly active in the field staying abreast of the latest research and innovations. RCSD also provides access to cutting-edge technologies and next-generation treatment options through it’s world-class clinical trials division.

In the end, the doctors treat all patients like they are members of their family and always do what they think is best for the individual patient.

Our physicians cover five offices throughout San Diego, and are on call for patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for emergencies. We are always available for urgent and emergency referrals. Routine new patients can typically be seen within a few weeks.

RCSD welcomes new patients with retinal disease. Most patients are referred to the practice by other physicians after the identification of vitreoretinal pathology, but self-referred patients with known retinal disease are welcome as well. Appointments can be made through our contact form or by calling the office at 858-451-1911.

We understand that a visit to a retina specialist due to a vision-threatening condition can be terrifying, and we will do our best to mitigate that fear. From your greeting at the front desk to your visit with the physician to scheduling intervention or followup, we hope to provide a concierge-like experience.

You should plan for about two hours in our office for your first visit, and that both of your eyes will be dilated. You will have multiple images taken to evaluate the health of your retina, and a detailed examination with one of our physicians. Please bring a driver if possible, all of your eye drops, and a list of any ocular conditions you have or procedures that have been performed on your eyes.

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We accept many insurances, but not all plans. We invite you to call our office to schedule an appointment and one of our insurance coordinators will work to verify your benefits prior to your visit.

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Most if not all of what we do would be covered by your insurance, as long as we participate with your plan. We also frequently see self-pay patients, either uninsured, or possessing a non-participating insurance. We do our absolute to minimize out of pocket costs for these patients through judicious use of testing and often providing generous discounts from typical cash prices. We never want money to get in the way of helping our patients.