Low Cost LASIK Eye Surgery

I was charged slightly over two thousand dollars per eye for my LASIK eye surgery, which I had in mid 2006. That price may seem high if you have seen ads in your local newspaper or online promising LASIK surgery for a fraction of what I paid. My sincere advice is to view these ads with a great deal of skepticism. As we will see in this article, the advertised price is rarely the price you will pay.

Ads promising low priced LASIK may be leaving out the cost of necessary services. Pre-surgical exams and aftercare may not be included in the advertised price. The promoted price may just be a tactic to lure you to their office.

When you respond to an ad offering extremely low priced LASIK eye surgery, you may be pressured to set an appointment for an office visit. You may be told that they cannot answer questions over the phone. Once you arrive for your appointment, you will likely meet with a salesperson who may or may not be willing or able to answer your questions.

Ads touting low cost LASIK surgery may also be neglecting to disclose the eligibility qualifications to actually receive the low price being promoted. Eligibility standards may be such that only a fraction of potential patients can actually get their surgery done for the advertised cost. For example, only prospects who require a very small degree of vision correction may be eligible for the lowest advertised price, but you probably will not see that fully disclosed in the advertisement.

At the end of it all, when the final price of your procedure and extras are added up, you could very well find that the price you are actually quoted is in line with or greater than other surgeons. The price that you end up paying may not even resemble the price in the ad that got your attention.

Certainly, the cost of your LASIK eye surgery is a concern and cannot be ignored, but it is important to understand that there is a lot more to LASIK surgery than price alone. Consult with your doctor. Speak with people who have undergone the procedure and try to gauge their satisfaction with their surgeon. Be crystal clear on cost and what the price you are quoted does and does not include. Remember the old adage: if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

As the cost of lasik eye surgery stabilized, Jayson Lee spent months learning if it was right for him. More information about the lasik eye surgery cost is available on his blog.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jayson_Lee

 

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LASIK and PRK Alternatives

Laser eye surgery, such as "LASIK" (laser in-situ Keratomileusis) or "PRK" (photorefractive Keratectomy), receives a lot of promotion as well as honest news. Some stories rave about athletes giving up contact lenses after laser surgery. Others claim that LASIK is easy, safe, and better than contacts or spectacles. Not true!

Number One: understand that laser surgery covers more than correction of focus. Glaucoma is a condition of excessive pressure inside the eye, which can lead to blindness in several ways. Medium cases can be treated with drugs to reduce the pressure, but require pressure readings at intervals set by the eye physician. Severe cases, or cases where the pressure is not controlled by drugs, can be treated with surgery to improve drainage of excess fluid. Such surgery can be made with laser bursts to the eye's trabecular meshwork. For extreme cases, microsurgical cutting is needed.

Number Two: understand that LASIK and PRK are far from risk free, which is almost never mentioned in "infomercials" and sponsored reviews, articles, press releases. "Re shaping" of the cornea means removing bits and pieces. Those bits can't be put back. If the results are not satisfactory, the patient will have to use contacts or spectacles anyway, if such correction still works. The risks are so great that members of the active US Military are forbidden such treatments.

Third: understand that laser vision correction is never perfect. The LASIK industry claims a 95 percent success rate, but that success might only be to 20/40 vision, which is legal for driving in most states. Most people will feel better with correction to the average defined as 20/20. Persons born with better than average vision, but later needing correction, will most likely be unhappy with even 20/20, to say nothing of 20/40.

Number Four: understand that laser correction of vision might well not last. It is pretty obvious that people using spectacles or contact lenses have to get prescriptions updated with time. Unless you are someone making big bucks off laser eye surgery, why should you expect aging of re shaped eyes not to affect focus? Can you spell "s-t-u-p-i-d", boys and girls?

Alternatives to LASIK and PRK: 
Lenses outside the eye, spectacles, can correct most conditions of focus provided that the eye is otherwise healthy. Lenses on the eye, contacts, can do a better job for some conditions, not quite as well for others. A relatively new technology is "Implantable contact lenses" ("ICL") in which a lens is inserted in front of or instead of the eye's own lens, behind the pupil. ICL is fast, and has an easier recovery than for LASIK & PRK. But MOST IMPORTANT, ICL can be reversed and updated, the same as with spectacles and contacts.

ICL is probably the best option after cataract surgery to remove the clouded lens.

For more articles about safe and enjoyable use of contact lenses and spectacles, seehttp://3daycontacts.com/articlelist.htm
by Dr. Don Miller

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Don_Miller

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