I did it. I regret it. I was a great candidate.
Aug 01 '06
The Bottom Line A failed experiment that cost me my good lens corrected vision, and 4000 dollars. AVOID TLC EYE CENTER FOR LASIK
Where to begin. My vision was about 20/90. 20/90, if you are unfamiliar, is when you are unable to read a book if it is setting on a table in front of you. I was unable to read the dash of my car. I appreciate a clear picture on my television, and this requires good eyesight, so the glasses were basically taken off for showers, sleep, and those times where glasses are inappropriate.
My lens corrected vision was 20/10 with reasonably thin, but expensive glasses. While wearing my glasses, my vision was quite clear, with sometimes spooky-good nighttime vision. Glasses, as any reader of this article well knows, can be a pain in the neck. They can be a curse under helmets, swimming, while behind cameras, or just while making a midnight run to the john or fridge. This is the year 2006, and everyone I have asked RAVED about their lasik procedure.
Any investment much more expensive than a tshirt, I tend to research to its death. This was no exception. Every optometrist I could talk with stressed researching the equipment, the doctor, and talking with the staff at those clinics. Most said that the procedure can expect good results with a good doctor, and good equipment.
Currently I live in a rural area. The disadvantage to this is that no matter where I go for my surgery, it is going to be a drive. The upswing is, five decent sized cities are within approximately the same drive time. Within my given radius, Toledo, OH and Detroit, MI were the closest cities I was considering. Between the two, I found the most information on the TLC office in Toledo. TLC centers are located in most major US cities, and for years have had a good reputation. I gave them a call.
The woman that handles the calls with regard to lasik is quite kind, competent and reassuring. I have full confidence that what she told me, she believed to be true. I had been screened for the surgery a year or two with another doctor that I lost confidence in, but all the same, I was comfortable with the screening process going well. I scheduled my screening and surgery to take place the same day. That is when I found out that the procedure costs $4000. This is obviously double, or nearly double of most offices. I coughed on this number, and was reassured (yeah, right) that they were the best, and that the cost was easily justified.
These are my eyes, and I have always been a bit of a sucker for the "get what you pay for" schema of things. I kept my appointment, and two weeks ago, I arrived for my surgery. The screening went well as expected. My sight correction was nearing quite quickly.
A little background. I grew up in the country, and much of my life has been spent "working." Even though my job involves office work, friends and family building homes, garages, or doing roof-jobs have kept the callus on my hands. I'm a sturdy boy with an unusually high pain tolerance. I say this only because, I thought, and have confirmed, that it is highly odd that my procedure HURT LIKE HOLY HELL. I wore contacts for years. My eyes, in addition to being resilient to dust/dirt/eyelashes, are comfortable with the touch required to remove the above-mentioned objects. The pressure during the slicing of my lens, eff'ing hurt. I'm guessing it would have hurt less to do it myself with a pocketknife. After my surgery, it was nearly eleven hours later before I could open my eyes without it feeling like clipped fingernails were tucked under my lids. So far, with poor vision and a bad memory of the surgery, Dr Brown sucked. Sucked hard.
Again, I researched this procedure for quite some time before I ever made the final decision. The one thing I had heard of, and thought would be associated with the "drive through" surgery clinics, was gross overestimation of your ability to see after surgery. What do I mean? My follow up appointment the next day was at 9 am. This was about 20 hours after my surgery. My eyes, still feeling donkey punched and sore, reluctantly opened. My vision was pretty much the same as it is now. While being driven by my father, I noticed I could not read much of billboards, license plates just a car length away, or stop signs until oddly close. My vision was in a pair of words "not good." That is until I met with Dr Brown. According to the good old Doctor Brown, my vision was 20/20 and 20/30. This was laughable. If not laughable, criminal. It's a fine line. To top things off, I was given advice by the good Dr in what sure seemed like an attempt to void my warranty. The company he works for, and has worked with for some time, requires follow up appointments within strict guidelines. He actually suggested I come back several weeks after my procedure, directly negating my warranty with TLC, and TOSSING my 4000 dollars on his suggestion. This guy, having spent less than five minutes with me, and then made this move, proved himself to be nothing less than a prick.
Before my procedure, the staff, and the doctor told me that my prescription and treatment was precisely what the laser was designed for. The doctor was confident that I would most likely not require a touch up FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. The next evening when I drove home, I was surprised to see headlights merge into a single, bright star bursting light. The glare and distortion was nothing shy of disturbing. It was unsafe to drive home without glasses. It was unsafe to drive at night. In all honestly, both are probably true right now, but my choices are few. My follow up appointment with the optometrist will be coming up in another 1.5 weeks. I am facing some decisions. Right now, I basically figure I cannot return to the same butcher. I will have my follow up appointment with their optometrist in Toledo, as he seems exceptional, but I will demand a referral to the Cleveland or Detroit TLC location. I would love to meet Mr Brown in an ally alone for a while.
My friends and family are asking if I can see "better" in spite of my complaints. There is a distinction that must be made here. Firstly, the headaches from the drastic vision difference between my two eyes were unexpected. I never get headaches...until my eyes were messed up. Next, I can see further during the day, but not NEARLY as well as I could see with glasses. It is unsafe to drive, my night vision is completely screwed up, I now have headaches, dry eyes, a jerk off DR and a bill for $4000. No, my vision is not better. In fact, this has negatively impacted virtually every aspect of my life.
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Epinions.com ID:
heathcolwell
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Member: Heath Colwell
Location: Cleveland, OH
Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 1 member
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