Medical Insurance to Pay for Amniotic Membrane Surgery

[Joey]

Has anyone had the amniotic membrane surgery for conjuctichalasis, and been successful in getting their insurance company to pay a portion of it? I have Cigna and they have completely denied me coverage. They should be paying out 70% of the "usual and customary" fees. But they determine the surgery as experimental.

Aetna and Medicare cover the surgery. If anyone can offer me any advice, I would greatly appreciate it. I can't afford to pay for the surgery out of pocket.

Thanks,
Joey

[Joey]

Had the AMT surgery?

Has anyone had the amniotic membrane transplant surgery? If so, how much was it? What were your results? Were your eyes bloodshot and red before the surgery? Are they white now? Are you eyes less dry? Do you have any visible signs of scaring on your eyes?

Thanks,
Joey

[Lucy]

Medicare covering this surgery is a big shock!

[adam-85]

Hey joey,

I had it done 6 days ago now, in both eyes.
It cost me $17,000 for both eyes, and that includes the hospital bill. My eyes were bloodshot before, bilaterally, and increased in redness towards the end of the day, and were red when i woke up. They are not white now, because it takes about 3 weeks to clear up. The doctor said that if there was unwanted redness around where he grafted the membrane on, that he would get rid of that in an appointment 3 weeks away. At the moment they are more red and I have subconjunival hemorrhage because he burst a vein in a few places, but that will clear up. At the moment they feel a bit bruised. But at the moment my sysmptons of burning and dryness are going. They are getting better everyday since the surgery. I can't see visible signs of scarring yet, but I think i might have a tiny amount, hardly visible to anyone though unless you look closely, he no longer stitches the membrane on, he uses a technique called conjunctival grafting which reduces the amount of scarring.

I still have lots of recovery and healing to do though... they look terrible! But should recover.

-Adam

[Joey]

Adam,

Hey there. Thanks for writing your response. Wow, $17,000!!! That is so much money. But I guess it is worth it to never have to deal with eye problems again. So how are your eyes doing now? It sounded like you had a bit of healing to go through. I hope the outcome is what you want. I hope you get clear white moist eyes. I really want to get the surgery. I am just trying to figure out how to swing the charges.

Who did your surgery? How would the doctor get rid of any unwanted redness around where he grafted? Are your eyes more moist? Would you reccomend this surgery?

Thanks for writing!

-Joey

[Joey]

Anyone else had it done?

Has anyone else had the surgery done?

-Joey