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LasikPlus Review: Eye Exam and Consultation
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Yesterday I went to my LasikPlus free eye exam and consultation to get some more information about Lasik (which apparently stands for Laser in-Situ Keratomileusis and there are in fact many different variations on the “laser-on-eye” surgery) and to also see how much it costs. When I showed up, the entire appointment is split up into three distinct parts: preliminary eye exam, doctor directed eye exam, and the pricing and scheduling consultation.
Preliminary Eye Exam
This was conducted by someone in a blue scrubs (in other words, not a doctor) and consisted of your typical eye exam things, checking for prescription, eye pressure, eye health. They also added two additional tests such as a cornea mapping, cornea thickness measure, and a night vision test, which are tests they need to tell how difficult it would be to perform Lasik on you or whether it was a good fit for you. The end of this exam consisted of taking the pupil dilating drops and waiting to see the doctor, which included watching an informative FAQ-type video about Lasik.
Doctor Directed Eye Exam
This was conducted by someone in a white lab coat who introduced himself as doctor so-and-so (I’ll be honest, at this point I had the pupil dilating drops in, I couldn’t see and so I was a little disconcerted). He checked out my prescription again and went into whether or not I was a good candidate for Lasik. Apparently my pupil is slightly larger than average but that was fine and my cornea was thicker than average, which is a good thing; there was a 5-6% chance I would need corrective surgery after the first surgery, but that was all included in the price.
I asked him whether I’d get a prescription of some kind, say for glasses or contacts, and he said that they didn’t do that, all their tests were geared towards assessing the candidacy of a patient. So if you wanted a free prescription out of it, you’re out of luck. If you wanted a thumbs up or thumbs down for eye health, you did get that.
Pricing and Scheduling Consultation
This was with someone at the front desk and this was a little hard for me because my pupil’s were dilated. They gave a 15% discount with my vision insurance provider, I assume they give this with practically all vision insurance providers, so the price was around $1400 an eye for a grand total price of $2800. Since I haven’t talked to any other providers, I have no idea where that is in the grand scheme of things (that’s just regular Lasik with a Bausch & Lomb laser).
As for payment, there were several financing options that including a 18 month 0% financing offer through Carecredit, but I haven’t had a chance to look at that.
Oh, one last thing, there wasn’t a hard sell at the Columbia location, which was something I appreciated. I hate going to a place and having them try their hardest to sell their service or product, even after I’ve told them I’m currently in a research gathering mode and not looking to make a decision at the moment.
There you have it, my LasikPlus eye exam and consultation experience, please feel free to ask any questions or share your own experiences.
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Please go to a cornea specialist at a reputible hospital that specializes in eye care. Although I went to the “premire” lasiks guy in Phila area, he was not a cornea specialist. His office turned out to be one of those lasik farms that processes as many patients as possible that come thru his door. Since my lasik, I have since gone to several cornea specialists perform lasik surgery for Guess what? They both charged about $2500/eye.
I am now paying out of pocket for my new Doctor, the cornea specialist, to take care of my eyes after the lasik farmer botched it up.
(both cornea specialist said I sould not have had lasiks, but PRK.) Ask and make sure they are a CORNEA SPECIALIST.
PS. Until recently, pilots were only allowed PRK. Ask your doctor about PRK. If your flaps don’t heal properly like mine, your are screwed. Once you have flaps you will always have them. ALSO do one eye at a time to see how your healing process goes. The farmer who did my surgery is pointing fingers at me for being a bad healer because I having eye desease he didn’t catch prior, because I rocesea, oh, and because I can’t see past the blurriness I now have and it’s effecting my healing.
My 23 year old son wants lasik surgery. He has been wearing contacts and glasses since he was 12. Has anyone got any reviews on Dr. Manuel Chankis, he presently works for Joffe Medicenter, Marietta, Georgia and was previously in Birmingham, Alabama. He was recommended but I need some more feedback before I use him.
Thanks for any help!
Has anyone ever done Lasik with Dr. Salierno (Wethersfield, CT)?
Please tell me about your experience!
A different question: how would you consider a fee of $3900-total- compared to the average price for lasik? (wich with insurance would go down to $3300)
Did you ever get to see Dr. Salierno? How was it? I am thinking of going but a little nervous. My husband knows a couple of people who went to him and had good results
My husband had PRK from Salierno. Two months of very dry eyes, needed lots of drops…Then he was fine. He has better than 20/20 vision and is a year post surgery now