Dr. Mathias was ready to cut our 10yo son's eye open - and completely missed these textbook symptoms for a brain tumor. Thank God our son is still alive - no thanks to Dr. Mathias. Full story: In March 2017, my husband brought our son, 10, to Dr. Mathias office for an exam. Since October, his right eye had been wandering to the side - it appeared he was developing a lazy eye, or amblyopia. In February, we had noticed that he was unable to look up - he'd tip his chin up to make eye contact with us. Dr. Mathias recommended that we patch the strong eye and give him a specific mineral supplement each day for 30 days. He told us that this supplement cured this eye problem in 70% of cases. We ordered this exact product online and our son ate a tablespoon each day as instructed. 28 days later, he woke up with burning eyes and a terrible headache. We googled the side effects of these colloidal minerals, and headaches where on the list. We gave him Tylenol and cold washcloths while we waited for his previously scheduled 30-day follow-up appointment with Dr. Mathias on Thursday. My husband and I took turns missing work that week to stay home and read to him, because he could not open his burning eyes. We thought maybe they were straightening out - that the minerals were working. He did not eat much of anything that week, and he vomited up the Tylenol we tried to give him on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. The three of us came to the appointment with Dr. Mathias on day 30 because our son was too weak to walk. Dr. M observed that the minerals did not work, and he coldly told us our options were "pirate or fix." PIRATE OR FIX he repeated again. He explained that we could keep that left eye patched indefinitely, or we could have surgery on his right eye to realign the eye. I specifically asked: "Is there no other reason why a 10 year-old would suddenly develop this eye issue? Anything else we should be looking for?" No, he replied, just schedule the surgery. He told us the headache was not related to his eyes, and suggested that we brought the flu into his office. Our son had no fever. We left fretting that our boy would need eye surgery - how scary! The next morning, we took our son to Primary Care for his headache. Our pediatrician spent more than an hour examining our son. She told us we needed an MRI and it could not wait till Monday. She called ahead to the Connecticut Children's Medical Center (CCMC) in Hartford and told them to be expecting us. When we arrived at the ER, the doctor asked our son to look left, then right, then down, and then up. He could not look up. The ER doctors all instantly knew that he had a tumor - and precisely where - because he was not able to look up. They knew that this meant his "third nerve" which controls upward gaze, was blocked by a tumor. Lazy eye is another symptom, along with terrible headaches. Two brain surgeries, months of chemo and weeks of daily radiation. Thank God our son will recover. But it cannot go unnoticed that his life was in danger due to hydrocephalus because of Dr. Mathias's lack of observant care. This condition can have short term and long term effects including loss of consciousness, slowing of the brain function, and even death. His inability to look up should have been detected immediately by Dr. Mathias during even a cursory exam - how did he not notice that his third nerve was impaired? Our son endured terrible pain which we incorrectly attributed to the minerals Dr. Mathias prescribed. If he had correctly identified his eye issues in March, we could have started his cancer treatment earlier, and avoided much pain and suffering during this wasted month of minerals. Further, and more importantly, Dr. Mathias would have cut into the healthy eye of a young boy without doing an MRI to see if there was any underlying reason why this new symptom suddenly showed up. Imagine if we had let him cut his eye, and then we found this tumor later? It is simply not typical for a 10 year-old child to suddenly develop amblyopia. This was clear cause for concern, and Dr. Mathias should have been more curious to help our boy. I hope that he can learn from this and offer better care to future patients. I have filed a complaint with the State Medical Board, and would NEVER NEVER NEVER recommend this doctor. Don't risk your child's life with Dr. Mathias. read more

The school nurse suggested my daughter should have her eyes tested by a doctor so I brought her to Dr. Mathias. He diagnosed a convergence problem and gave her eye exercises. I didn't think she was diligent with them even though she assurred me she was but when I took her back a couple of weeks later Dr Mathias pronounced her vision fixed and now 20/20. The next year when she was examined in school again the nurse sent a note home asking why she hadn't been tested by a doctor. I took her to Costco and she was diagnosed with an astigmatism! When we came back to pick up her new glasses she put them on and she looked around in wonder because she could see everything so clearly. I broke down in raging tears right in the middle of the store! I can't believe this man is still practicing especially after reading the other reviews on this sight. My daughter is now 38 and this happened over 20 years ago. I just wonder how many other children he has harmed. read more

I know that Dr. Mathias is well regarded my many. However my last visit with him was definitely my LAST visit with him. I went to see him as I was experiencing double vision (a very scary experience). Not only did he misdiagnose me, I felt the way he addressed me was condescending and rude. He arrogantly "educated" me about what was currently wrong with my eyes and told me there was 1) nothing that could be done to help me and 2) I'd just have to wait two years for the condition causing the double vision to go away. He asked for my drivers license and made a joke about my eyes being uneven and then joked about not giving me my license back (which I believed as obviously the double vision Made it difficult to drive so I thought he was confiscating my license as a result). Long story short, his diagnosis was quickly disproved with A simple blood test by my GP (something which he didn't even mention as a possibility to confirm his diagnosis). I in turn went to see a neuro ophthalmologist who properly diagnosed me and subsequently fitted me with lenses that reversed my double Vision. Had I simply taken diagnosis I wouldn't be typing this now as I couldn't read or write or drive a car. And it wouldn't have gone away "on its own in about two years without treatment". I honestly felt that at Minimum I was treated negligently as he had to have been aware that he could have recommended a simple blood test to confirm his devastating diagnosis. I believe his arrogance got in the way of my receiving good sound medical advice. read more