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Business must be bad so now they are offering "affordable" lasik with "easy payment plans". I am still on their mailing list and it's the first "bulk" mailing they have done in a year.
So I wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper in their market. I don't know if it will be published but here's the text. (I had a 250 word limit)
You may have come home recently to find a flyer in your mailbox offering "affordable Lasik" and "Easy payment plans for Lasik". I want to warn anyone considering investigating Lasik or thinking about calling for a screening to do intensive research about this procedure and the risks involved before you even call to set up your initial appointment.
Do not believe that just because a Lasik surgeon is an Ophthalmologist that patient welfare or true informed consent comes first. As a local ethicist recently wrote in an article for the American Academy of Ophthalmology: “Every doctor has a conflict of interest when they recommend any surgery" and for Lasik, that conflict is cash.
Over a year after my surgery, I am spending more than the yearly equivalent of eyeglasses or contacts on eye drops, prescriptions and doctor visits because I was a high risk patient but my Lasik surgeon decided that the risks were “reasonable” and therefore he felt no compunction to warn me about my higher risk status or let me decide if I was willing to take those risks. Of course, I was told that I was an “excellent” candidate.
I am not anti Lasik. In the hands of careful, ethical and responsible surgeons it can be a miracle for appropriate candidates. Get a second or even third opinion. Your eyes and eyesight are worth more than any financial incentives offered to get more prospective patients. Do not be fooled. Lasik is a Buyer Beware procedure.
I don't know if the paper will actually publish it but it's all I could think of to do.
Natalie
My lawyer will probably have a fit!!
So I wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper in their market. I don't know if it will be published but here's the text. (I had a 250 word limit)
You may have come home recently to find a flyer in your mailbox offering "affordable Lasik" and "Easy payment plans for Lasik". I want to warn anyone considering investigating Lasik or thinking about calling for a screening to do intensive research about this procedure and the risks involved before you even call to set up your initial appointment.
Do not believe that just because a Lasik surgeon is an Ophthalmologist that patient welfare or true informed consent comes first. As a local ethicist recently wrote in an article for the American Academy of Ophthalmology: “Every doctor has a conflict of interest when they recommend any surgery" and for Lasik, that conflict is cash.
Over a year after my surgery, I am spending more than the yearly equivalent of eyeglasses or contacts on eye drops, prescriptions and doctor visits because I was a high risk patient but my Lasik surgeon decided that the risks were “reasonable” and therefore he felt no compunction to warn me about my higher risk status or let me decide if I was willing to take those risks. Of course, I was told that I was an “excellent” candidate.
I am not anti Lasik. In the hands of careful, ethical and responsible surgeons it can be a miracle for appropriate candidates. Get a second or even third opinion. Your eyes and eyesight are worth more than any financial incentives offered to get more prospective patients. Do not be fooled. Lasik is a Buyer Beware procedure.
I don't know if the paper will actually publish it but it's all I could think of to do.
Natalie
My lawyer will probably have a fit!!
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