I'm looking to have LASIK done and would like to hear recommendations on where to go and where NOT to go. Not looking for the cheapest place, but rather good quality care. I had LASIK done 15 years ago but the old eyes need another round. Any suggestions? I've seen TLC, Kelly Eye Care etc. Help!
Lowry Opthalmology. he's been doing it the longest, in this area. He was one of the first Opthalmologists that did RK, back in the 90's, when this all started. http://www.lowryeye.com/
Dr Lori Travers did mine 4 years ago at Lasik Plus. She has left them and opened her own practice, not sure where. I really liked her and she took great care of me.
I beleive it's been TLC they I'm sure have been around for a long long time and have the most up to date equipment, but it depends on the actual Surgeons and how many they have performed and the success rates. I'm sure there is a small hand full that are top quality, a small few.
I worked for Dr. Lowry. He was one of the first in the area. Not the only one, just one of the first ones.
My neighbor went to Lori Travers for her laser eye surgery. They paid the full price for each eye, and then an additional several hundred for "lifetime tweaking". Within 18 months, her nighttime vision was so horrible she couldnt' drive at night without getting a headache (halo's, blurred, etc.), then her daytime vision started going downhill too. She made an appt to see about the "tweaking", she went in, and was told that it wasn't bad enough yet, and was handed a prescription for glasses. HELLO! How much worse would it need to be, blind perhaps?? I hear stories like hers, and it just makes me afraid to have it done. Its not like its reversible. I'd kill myself if I had that "nighttime halo" problem, I'd have a headache so fast... I wouldn't be able to stand it. I'll just stick with my contact lenses. :?
TLC, the lifetime commitment, as long as your eyes aren't way off the chart and heavy astigmatism, you get free enhancements which is what they call it. It's not unusual to have some regression on your vision.
I had RK done back in the day....92, and I have had ZERO problems. 'cept the over- 40- arm- length -disease. :lol:
I can still see too! I did have an enhancement on one eye after a year. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Been wearing contacts since age 12 with horrible nearsightedness and astigmatism. I was so excited and emotional afterwards I actually cried!
Amen Amen now with the one eye enhancement it may have pro-longed your need for reading glasses... depending on your age
I had mine done at TLC, Dr Kelly. I do have problems with halo's at night, mostly after a long day of work. I had a lot of problems at first. It took about 8 weeks for everything to be back to 100% normal. I am very happy with it, but it was kinda scary for a few weeks. They say most people can drive the next day, that was not me. It was about 4 or 5 days before I could drive. If you were to ask me right after I had it done, I would never do it again, but if you ask me now which is a year and half later, I am very very happy with it and glad I did it. I went with the lifetime commitment, I think it was around the 4k range.
I'm 47. The time is approaching......I can feel (see) it. It must really vary from person to person. I drove myself back the next day for my checkup and have very few problems besides a little dry eyes. I will admit that at first I had great trepidation about driving at night because of the weird sensations but only for a month or two.
I had it down about 7-8 yrs ago at TLC and love every minute of it. I had horrible eye sight 20/600 and 20/400 and heavy dose of astigmatism. I highly recommend TLC, I had worn gas permeable semi rigid contacts for many many years, when I chose to do it TLC was very good about taking their time to finally say I was ready. Do to contacts I had to go without them for a long time so my eyes would settle back to original shape, semi-rigid lens more than soft have that effect. They spent a lot of time graphing the eyes till they were comfortable that the shape stabilized. That told me a lot about them, they were in no hurry. They didn't shy away from telling you all the dangers involved but were confident in their work. I didn't suffer from any of the halo's or headaches, it was certainly weird not having to wake up looking for glasses just to read clock in front of my face. Do to astigmatism and pour eyesight I needed an enhancement, they make sure and wait long enough before they will do it though. They talked to me about doing the dominant eye only and it would create a slight mono-vision which does prolong need for reading glasses. They said when people hit the 40's that in time a majority will need them its a given. If I didn't like the mono-vision than they would do the other eye, you can always take a little away put you can never put it back. At the time it was 5,000 bucks, but well worth every penny. I would highly recommend TLC. If they are good enough for Toy Aikman and Tiger Woods any other sport stars then its good enough for you. I do know the equipment they have now is so much better than when I had it. much safer.
I used Dr. Dean Dornic at Laser Eye Center of Carolina. Due to my severe astigmatism, I wasn't a candidate until last year and Dr. Dornic was the only surgeon with the new technology that my opthomalogist would recommend. It was convenient having an office in Smithfield, FV and Cary. I was very nervous I'd be one of those who couldn't get perfect vision from LASIK because the best I could get with contacts was 20/40 or 20/50. Dr. Dornic guarantees you can pass a driver's test without glasses/contacts or your surgery is free. I was legally blind before surgery and walked in the next day for my checkup with 20/15. It was amazing. You can check out the website at http://www.visionauthorities.com/ . I will say that my appointments always took a bit of time as the waiting room was always full and Dr. Dornic saw all the patients himself. When it came to my eyes, I saw this as a good thing and overlooked it. THey do free consults at any of the office locations. It is a huge decision so ultimately you have to be comfortable with your doc and fully trust him/her. Best of luck to you.
ALRIGHT!!! You folks probably won't believe my story, but here it is. About 5 years ago The Lasik Institute started advertising in the Sunday,s N&O FUNNY PAPERS. I can't remember what price they started out at, but, being the tight arse I am, I waited until I thought they had gone as low as they could.... $599.00.... FOR BOTH EYES!!! Well, I had to check it out, so I called , made a pre-op appointment at Millbrook Eye Center and set date for surgery. I was told to show up at 11AM at the PARKING LOT OF THE HOLIDAY INN at Crabtree Valley!!! There was going to be a TRACTOR TRAILER there, equiped witha mobile lab, in and out in about an hour and a half!!! Long story short, I went home, took a nap and drove to Chile's that night to eat. My vision had been 20/200 & 20/300 pre-op and was corrected to 20/15 & 20/20 but has since regressed a bit. One of the best parts ( and I had an Optometrist in Clayton tell me it was impossible) is that I don't need reading glasses anymore. I haven't seen Lasik Institute advertise in a while, but for my money ($599.00 !!!) they're DA BOMB!!!
You are a brave man, LOL! I have a healthy skepticism of eye surgery, as I worked for an optomotrist in Illinois who did a lot of work with patients who didn't have good results with RK (the older surgery where they actually used a scalpel to re-shape the eye with actual cuts on the eye itself). He would occasionally show us what the person's eyes looked like under the slit lamp, DH wanted to do that at the time (early 90's) and from what I saw, I told him "no way". Had some patients with horrible scarring, who could no longer see to drive at night, terrible dry eyes, you name it. Ruined for life from bad radial keratotomy. :? Now, we are just waiting on some money to free up so he can have the new laser surgery. I know many folks who have had it, and I have no qualms about it at all. I can imagine that it would be a lovely experience to wake up and not need glasses anymore. I will encourage DS to do it once he's 18, he just recently got his first pair of glasses.
