Your Pressing Questions

Did you know that Davis Eye Center is on Facebook?

Many of our patients and people considering LASIK, Cataract Surgery, or any of our other services find us on Facebook to ask us some of their most important questions about our services.

Check us out on Facebook and let us know if there is anything you would like to know about us!

The Cost of LASIK

Often one of the biggest reasons lens wearers hesitate to have their vision corrected is the cost. They aren’t sure how much it may cost them, if they will need to pay for multiple surgeries, if they will be able to really stop wearing lenses, and if continuing the on-going cost of lenses would just be easier.

We’d like to take a moment to educate you on a few of these points, but first, the most important decision you must make is to visit a reputable surgeon. In order to get the care and results you are expecting, you shouldn’t just trust your eyes to ANY LASIK surgeon. There are thorough surgeons and there are “other” surgeons. A thorough surgeon is an ophthalmologist that is reputable in the community, trusted by multiple patients and staff, will ensure you are an excellent candidate for LASIK (and offers other procedures if you are not), has performed at least 5,000 surgeries AND has a low enhancement rate (the rate at which a doctor needs to enhance the original results in order to get the patient to their visual expectations).  An excellent enhancement rate is less than 10%.

Multiple Surgeries

Often patients have the misconception that to have excellent eyesight, they will need multiple LASIK surgeries. This is not true.

Some surgeons perform multiple surgeries on one patient because they were not accurate the first time, they are new to performing eye surgery, or they didn’t take accurate measurements prior to performing surgery.

As we said before, an expert surgeon will have a less than 10% enhancement rate. There are very few cases where they may need to enhance the original results, but it is mostly due to patient error in after-care or an agreed-upon course of treatment prior to surgery. These enhancements should be covered in the original cost of surgery and should NOT be a whole new surgery charge.

Stop Paying For and Wearing Lenses

This is a concern for almost every patient. After all, why would anyone in their right mind agree to eye surgery if they have to continue wearing lenses?

If you are a good candidate for the procedure and you have chosen a reputable surgeon, then you should be able to have many, many years of lens-free vision. How many years depends on how old you are at the time of surgery. Our eyes age along with us and there will be age-related issues, like Presbyopia, that require glasses for reading. Presbyopia occurs in the lens of your eye and not in the cornea (where vision issues like nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism occur). LASIK or other vision correction procedures correct the cornea and the younger you are when you have the procedure, the longer you have to enjoy lens-free vision.

Lenses or LASIK – Which is Easier?

Ultimately, this decision is going to be up to you. LASIK and other vision correction procedures are a one-time cost. We offer payment plans that will help you break down the cost of the surgery to an affordable range, and we may even be able to offer you no-interest or 0% for up to 24 months. If you chose that option, after 24 months (or two years), you will be free of the cost of lenses, contacts, or vision correction payments!

If you have a flexible spending account, it's even easier than that! Give us a call and we'll explain the details.

Or you can continue to make payments for lenses, replacement lenses, contacts, replacement contacts, cleaning solution, travel cases, travel solutions, etc. for the next 10, 15, 20, 25+ years.

The choice is yours.

Payment Plans

We are here to answer any questions you may have about payment plans and how to fit LASIK into your budget. Please feel free to give us a call at 330.923.5676 – there is no need to set up an appointment. We’ll answer any questions you may have and you can come in whenever you are ready.

How to Learn About LASIK Without Being "Sold"

LASIK is a medical procedure aimed to help you see clearly. With so much information on the internet, how do you find out about LASIK? Where do you go to research the procedure and how it works? How do you make yourself comfortable enough to finally contact a LASIK practice to being the process? ARSC, or the American Refractive Surgery Council, has a few pointers that may help you out. EYE ON HEALTH Going Online To Learn About LASIK

(NAPSI)-Social networks and blogs have taken the information-rich resources of the Internet and made them a part of everyday conversation: According to a recent Pew Internet study, 80 percent of Internet users, or 59 percent of U.S. adults, look online for health information. Networks like Facebook, review sites such as HealthGrades and Yelp, and comments and questions posted online are extremely useful tools for researching personal health matters. Popular topics of inquiry include learning about procedures, specific medical conditions, understanding treatment options and finding a doctor. When considering an elective procedure, such as vision correction with LASIK, having access to online resources can make becoming an informed patient much easier. The American Refractive Surgery Council offers these tips on using the Internet and social networking to research whether LASIK is right for you. • Use Facebook and other social networks to ask friends and followers about their LASIK experiences. Were they happy? What surgeon would they recommend? • If you're curious about exactly how the surgery is performed, you can check out surgery videos on YouTube or Vimeo. These videos of actual procedures can be very instructive (though be warned, they are graphic). Also, many surgeons post procedure videos on their sites. • Use forums, message boards and other online discussions to hear from other people firsthand. Literally thousands of communities have formed around common areas of interest where LASIK can make a difference-from parents to outdoor enthusiasts. This is a great avenue for finding people who share your interests and hearing about their experiences with the procedure. • You can find out about prices online; just remember, getting a great deal should not be the deciding factor for any surgical procedure. A consultation with a refractive surgeon should be balanced, detailed and personalized to you and your vision. It should never feel like a sales process. • Use authoritative medical websites such as WebMD or the Mayo Clinic to learn about the procedure. Research the risks as well as the benefits and understand what the procedure can and can't do. For example, LASIK can free you from glasses and contact lenses-or reduce your dependence on them. But it has limitations. In particular, LASIK can't stop the aging process. Your eyes will continue to age and you may need glasses for reading at some point in the future. Finally, some common sense about using the Internet: Because anyone can put anything on the Web, the source matters. Make sure the information you are relying on to make a medical decision comes from a credible source and that you verify the information with your surgeon or personal physician. Learn more at www.americanrefractivesurgerycouncil.org. Information online and in social networks can help you make up your mind about LASIK.

It's Almost Back to School Time

We said it last year and we'll say it again: It's never too early for an eye exam!

School is back in session and kids are back to reading, writing, and math. If you want your children to succeed, you should make sure to have their eyes checked. If kids can’t see, their grades, behaviors, and learning abilities are severely affected. “They learn to compensate with their vision problems without fixing them, which can lead to more problems in school and later in life.” (Prevention Blindness America)

It’s not just children that should have their eyes checked. Even as an adult, if you have had 20/20 vision your whole life, there are age-related vision problems that occur with everyone. Presbyopia is just one of these vision impairments. After the age of 40, the lens of your eye begins to harden and lose its flexibility. You may not begin to notice it at first, but eventually you will have trouble reading things up close. You’ll start to notice you need to stretch your arms further and further away in order to read your cell phone or a restaurant menu.

The good news is that there is a solution to Presbyopia. Often people will start wearing bifocals. Bifocals allow someone with Presbyopia to see up close, but also to focus in the distance if they have nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism.

If you don’t want to wear lenses, you can also speak with an Ophthalmologist about your options. Many doctors can provide lens replacement surgery. The lens of your eye is removed and replaced by a synthetic lens that will never harden. Depending on the type of lens, you may also be able to correct your existing refractive error at the same time.

So don’t put up with bad vision any longer! Come in and see us at Davis Eye Center today!

Less Vision Problems for Older Americans

In a recent report from the Chicago Tribune, fewer older Americans are complaining of vision problems.

As you age, your eyes also age. There are certain inevitable issues you will have with your eyes, one being presbyopia. The other is cataracts. Both happen to everyone, eventually.

So what’s behind the decline on vision problems in older American’s? Researchers think it could be due to cataract surgery, healthy eating, better lifestyles, and even less people smoking.

Whatever the issue, it’s good news for many older Americans.

Read the Chicago Tribune article here.

Enjoy Your Holiday!

We hope you all have a very safe and Happy 4th of July!

LASIK & Your Astigmatism

Many people hear that they have astigmatism and it means almost nothing to them except the fact that they cannot see well. Astigmatism is a little harder to correct than just simple nearsightedness or farsightedness. Glasses and contacts may help, but only while you are wearing them.

What is Astigmatism?

Your eyeball is a round sphere. When you are looking at something, your eye detects the light reflected off of the object. This light enters your eye through the cornea, where it is then refracted onto the retina. The retina then sends images to your brain.

If your cornea is not a perfect circle shape, it can distort the light and make it so the light does not reach the retina accurately.

For someone who has astigmatism, their cornea is slight oblong, or shaped more like a football. This results in the person seeing images as extremely blurry.

Can LASIK correct astigmatism?

Many optometrists, or eye doctors, tell their patients that LASIK cannot correct astigmatism. This is untrue.

LASIK CAN correct astigmatism.

However, in order to be 100% sure that LASIK can correct your personal degree of astigmatism, you must have a LASIK exam. It’s the only true way to find out if LASIK can help.

How LASIK Corrects Astigmatism

An ophthalmologist, or eye surgeon, can correct astigmatism with a LASIK laser. The laser will reshape the cornea into a round shape, thus allowing light to accurately refract directly on the retina.

Our LASIK patients are amazed that as soon as the surgery is over, they can see more clearly than they ever have before. The correction with LASIK is fast and permanent. You’ll be able to see clearly right away.

We encourage everyone to participate in our Free LASIK Consultation. Without any obligations, you can find out if you are a candidate, regardless of your degree of astigmatism, and then you can decide if you would like to further pursue the question of “Should you have LASIK?”

Schedule online today!