Appointment with LASIK provider - advise please

[quattroboy]

Hi all.

I've been active on her since developing moderate to severe dry eye after LASIK. It was a more or less certain I would develop dry eye because I had already started with dry eye and gland drop out due to partial blinking. I personally was not aware I had dry eye. My LASIK provider told me I was a perfect candidate.

I'm now receiving treatment and care from the NHS in the UK and my doctor has been very supportive. Prescribing two months of steroids, Ikervis and now lower smart plugs.

I posted a really damning review on the high street LASIK provider I used on Trustpilot. As a result of the review I got a phone call from the provider asking for me to return to their care and too make an appointment. I made the gentleman who phoned me aware of my current treatment.

I have agreed and will met them on the 10th August. To be honest I'm not so sure whether I should waste my time, I can't see what they can do that my current doc can't.

My free aftercare with them expires on the 29th November and then they would drop me like a hot potato and they wouldn't be interested anymore.

My family are against me going back and I've already decided I'm not leaving the care of my current NHS doc, since he's been excellent so far. So the only thing they can do is offer some form on complementary treatment to run alongside my current one. I have no idea what this could be, unless they are prepared to try something like AMT or source Xiidra (somehow in the UK).

I was wondering what other people's thoughts are on this?

[deep_dry_eye]

Well, if they're good doctors, they will followup and try and cure/manage your dry eyes. Options definitely include Xiidra and AMT. IMO, AMT might be a good option, the theory is that LASIK can damage the nerves and which causes dry eyes, AMT might be able to fix it.

[diydry]

It’s a good question. First of all, kudos to you for writing a review to raise awareness of the issue and hopefully make others think twice about this procedure. I saw my LASIK surgeon about 6 months after my surgery when I was close to my worst, with the belief that surely my all knowing surgeon would have a solution and could help me. Instead, I was astounded by the lack of dry eye knowledge, let alone support and empathy. They wouldn’t even admit I had dry eyes or mgd, even though a dry eye specialist had already diagnosed me with it (whether the surgeon’s team simply wanted to downplay my symptoms or were truly incompetent and ignorant of dry eye disease, I have no idea). Their advice, I kid you not, was to quit my office job and move to Florida for a more humid environment. I decided that day I would never go back, and now the only decision I need to make is whether I want to carry out some other action against them, whether writing a negative review on rating sites or reporting my adverse event to the Food and drug administration.

That’s my perspective, but it’s highly individualized and dependent on the patient and the surgeon. Some patients have apparently had knowledgeable and sympathetic lasik surgeons who know a good deal about dry eye treatments (although maybe not so cutting edge that they’ll offer amniotic membrane!). Some clinics have even offered to pay for a Lipiflow treatment if patients complain or write negative reviews. After all, it is a business and I’m sure no clinic wants unhappy patients at the end of the day that could affect their bottom line. However, I would not go in using it as an opportunity to vent or expecting any kind of apology.

Again, six months post-lasik I was eager to see my lasik surgeon, and I’m glad I did so I could come to grips with the fact that I needed to seek care from a real expert. Maybe you are at this stage as well. Sorry I could not give more specific advice but I hope my story helps you. I wish you the best of luck, and that you get what you need. Please let us know how it goes.

[quattroboy]

I've had a few messages asking how I got on.

I attend the meeting on the 10th August, which I also secretly recorded after obtaining advice from a lady who acts as a patient advocate for laser victims in the UK. She warned me they have a history of not helping people.

Prior to the meeting, I send [omitted] Head Office a list of treatment requests that I felt could compliment my NHS based treatment.

These were:

Insertion of plugs into my upper tear ducts.
Provide a prescription for Salagen (Pilocarpine) or Evoxac.
Prokera
Treatment for MGD (Lippiflow, IPL, probing)
Review the damage to my corneal nerves with a confocal microscope.

I also asked them to consider:

Serum drops, I've learned the National Blood service will provide privately but at over £500 per month!
Xiidra from the US
Allergen True Tears device from the US.

They refused to commit to these treatments until they'd received the assessment by the surgeon.

The attitude of the surgeon was scary, defending performing LASIK on dry eyes, despite the dangers. Couldn't explain to me why my dry eyes weren't highlighted. And admitted [omitted] don't screen people properly because it's too expensive!

He agreed to recommend my treatment options back to [omitted] clinical service team but it would be up to them to agree and fund them.

He did place plugs in my upper ducts, after arguing the toss with me about it! He also tried to talk me out of Prokera and Salagen at first. If only he'd shown that level of concern for my welfare before sticking a laser in my dry eyes!!!!!!!!!

So the extra plugs have made a difference.

Not heard a thing back from [omitted], despite four emails chasing, surprise surprise!

So another review on Trustpilot: https://www.trustpilot.com/reviews/5...83fd0b58d3d3f7

After reviewing my recording the patient advocate reckons I've got a strong legal claim and put me in touch with a lawyer, who has plenty of experience with [omitted], including recovering £625k for one patient.


It's only early days but I've returned all the forms to them to start the claim against [omitted], for damages, expenses, lost earnings and costs of ongoing medical care.

[diydry]

Thanks for sharing, quattroboy. First, I'm thrilled to hear you're getting on better with the upper plugs. Really good news.

Second, the reaction from your LASIK surgeon is truly horrifying! Not surprising perhaps, but even I'm a bit shocked to hear he *admitted* he doesn't screen people properly because of the cost (I was also not screened properly, however in my case the cost to them was $0 because I already told them about my prior MGD diagnosis).

Third, I think it's great you recorded the session with your surgeon and are pursuing legal action. I admire your dedication to seek justice for this horrible thing that happened to you. I'm intrigued you found a woman in the UK who advocates for laser surgery victims. Is she NHS? I'm not sure we have an equivalent person in the US and I wouldn't know where to look for one besides these forums.

Now if only there were a way that when patients googled "lasik surgery," posts and reviews like yours showed up instead of the industry-sponsored crap and fake reviews that permeate the web!

[quattroboy]

She's a LASIK victim herself at the hands of [OMITTED] and has been running a campaign in the UK to get the whole industry properly regulated.

She also runs a couple of foundation to support patients.

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi quattroboy,

Hmmmm I can't seem to find where our policy is posted. But, for legal reasons, we can't have people naming clinics or surgeons when posting about adverse experiences. (Very simply, we don't want to be sued. Believe me, we've come close a few times.) So I'll be editing that part out of your posts.