My Road To (Hopefully) 20/20 Vision

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm going to do a series of blogs describing my experience with getting LASIK surgery.  I have only been wearing glasses for about 5 years and the main reason I got them was because I hadn't had an eye checkup in quite a few years and Angie finally talked me into going.  After a while I decided to go for contacts because I enjoyed seeing in "HD" compared to what my vision had become.  You don't really realize how bad your vision is until you get it corrected.  It took me quite some time to get used to my contacts and I constantly fiddled with them for the first few months.  In fact, I started getting chapped skin on my bottom eyelids because I just couldn't stop messing with them trying to get the contacts comfortable.  I know that a lot of (most?) people have contacts/glasses for 10+ years before they finally make the decision to get LASIK.  It makes me feel like I'm not a true contact/glasses wearing person since I haven't battled it out very long but I'm ready to get rid of my contacts and glasses.  Here are some reasons why:

- I am the type of person that can't stand to have a smudge on my glasses so I am constantly trying to get them spotless (those of you that wear glasses know this is an uphill battle...especially when you have kids)

- I am the type of person that needs things to feel "just right" so I still fiddle with my eyes a lot when wearing contacts until they don't bother me

- I want to be able to take a nap on the couch and not worry about my contacts drying out

- I want to be able to lay my head on the arm of the couch to watch TV and not have my glasses dig into the side of my head

- I want to play golf and softball without having to wear contacts (especially when it's windy)

- I want to be able to wear my new sunglasses all the time, not just when I'm wearing contacts

- I do a lot of looking into a microscope at work and I must not blink much because, when wearing contacts, my eyes always dry out.  When I wear glasses they are constantly bumping into my microscope eye pieces

- I want to be able to see my beautiful daughters as clearly as possible when we're roughhousing and not have to worry about my glasses getting kicked into my eyeballs

- I want to be able to see better when I'm running without having to wear my contacts (I never run with my glasses on because it's too annoying)

I could probably go on all day but I won't bore you.  It's about time I get to my actual LASIK experience.

I chose the 20/20 Institute for a couple reasons.  The first is that they have an office in Westminster which is conveniently close to my office and home (compared to most other LASIK providers that are in south Denver.)  The second, and most important?, reason is:

Yes that's right, they are the official LASIK partner of your Denver Broncos!  Anyway, I had been hearing their ads on the radio for the past couple years so I finally decided to set up a free consultation online.  In the online questionnaire I requested that they contact me via email because I felt like it would have been a lot harder to chicken out if I actually had to talk to someone on the phone.  They got back to me very quickly (same day) and let me know they had an opening that Wednesday (I contacted them on a Monday.)

When I arrived at the office I was immediately welcomed by a friendly receptionist who offered me coffee/tea/water/soda.  I passed on the drink and sat in one of there comfy chairs and watched their big screen TV while I waited.  Some people on Yelp have complained about the waiting room saying that they should spend their money elsewhere.  To be honest, I enjoyed it.  I didn't wait long, in fact I was hoping to wait a few more minutes so I could finish watching a show that was on TV, and started my eye exam.  It was a very thorough exam that ran the gamut of tests including an eye dryness test where they put little strips between your bottom eyelid and eye and measure moisture.  I passed!

While I waited for the Doctor to complete my exam I was again offered coffee/tea/water/soda.  The Optometrist and owner Dr. Danzo completed my exam and confirmed my prescription and candidacy for LASIK. He asked if I had any questions, I always go blank when I'm asked that question, so he started going through a list of FAQs he gets from patients.  My "patient counselor" Laura was also in the room for the second half of the exam.  Dr. Danzo asked if he could dilate my eyes, to which I responded yes, and while we were waiting on my eyes to dilate I went into Laura's office to talk.  She asked if I had any other questions (and was again offered coffee/tea/water/soda...I mention this because I thought it was nice they continued to ask me instead of just when I showed up and then never again) and then got into the nitty gritty.

I read a review that said this part of the consultation felt a little like a sales pitch, and I'm sure it is to a degree, but I was prepared for it and it didn't bother me.  It wan't like buying a car.  "What can we do to get you in new eyes today?" In fact, Laura didn't pressure me into making any decision and in fact I was the one that asked when they had an opening.  At their Westminster office they only do surgeries on the last Wednesday of the month and, prior to surgery, you can't wear contacts for 2 weeks.  Fortunately for me my consultation was exactly 2 weeks from the last Wednesday of the month so I was able to sign up for surgery on Wednesday, January 29.  I also read another review (it's good that I read so many reviews right?) that said the counselors weren't forthcoming with the price of LASIK.  That's absolutely not true.  Dr. Danzo actually mentioned the prices to me earlier in the exam, so it wasn't a shock when I saw it printed out on paper (at least as much as I could read since my eyes were getting a little blurry from the dilation drops.)

Basically the cost is $1890/eye and then an additional $550/eye  (I think) to get their Lifetime Assurance Guarantee (that will cover any additional LASIK surgeries you elect to have done over your lifetime.)  They are running a special where they give $500 off the LAG which then drops the price to $1890 + 300 per eye.  I checked with my insurance to see if they offered a discount at 20/20 Institute, they didn't, but 20/20 Institute still offered to give me the same discount off of the non-$500-off-special pricing if I went with the LAG (or 5% off the pricing if I choose not to go with the LAG.)  This brings all my pricing options to:

- No LAG - 5% insurance match: $3591
- Yes LAG - 15% insurance match: $4148
- Yes LAG, no insurance match, yes, - $500 special: $4380

Now I just need to decide whether or not I want to get the LAG.  On one hand, it would be very nice to know that, after the 1 year guarantee is over, I could go back and have my eyesight tweaked.  (Note: LASIK does not correct the need for reading glasses as we get older.)  Since I am still young , 35, this would obviously pay for itself if I do it just once more.  On the other hand, there is no guarantee that 20/20 Institute will be open in 10 - 20 years when I might need my vision improved again.  Plus, they only have three locations (2 in CO and 1 in IN) so if I ever move out of state it would mean multiple trips to CO to have the surgery (including before and after eye exams.)  I may have to flip a coin.

Once my eyes were dilated Dr. Danzo checked them out again and then my consultation was complete.  I need to go back in the day before the surgery so they can check my eyes again to see if my prescription changed in the past 2 weeks (contacts change the shape of your eyes so they need to make sure they are giving me the proper prescription.)  I'm not too nervous about the surgery yet but there are a few things about the recovery that I'm worried about.  This post has dragged on long enough so I'll save my concerns for the next one.

Have a wonderful weekend and let me know your thoughts on yes or no regarding the Lifetime Assurance Guarantee.