Healthcare decisions are extremely personal and can be sometimes be very difficult. Laser eye surgery is no different. Even though LASIK surgery is wildly popular, successful, and safe, it is still surgery on your eyes. Feeling pressure or like you’re being rushed into a decision is never good.
Maybe you’re considering talking to a specialist about laser eye surgery, but you’re not ready to schedule the surgery yet. You just have some questions you want answered before you make the final decision. How long is your LASIK surgery consultation good for? How soon after the consultation do you need to have a decision made? The answer is totally dependent on the practice.
We asked Dr. Mozayeni at Providence Eye & Laser Specialists so we could get his expert opinion. Here’s what he told us about your LASIK surgery consultation:
“If someone is deemed a good candidate for LASIK surgery in our practice, that consultation is good for 9 months. We feel this is a reasonable amount of time to make a decision. Additionally, after 9 months the overall health of your eyes should be revisited to ensure this is still the right decision.”
Unfortunately, this is a sales tactic. Many LASIK surgery centers are only concerned about volume. At other practices, the surgeon may be flying in for one day a month to do LASIK surgery and they want to make their day as busy as possible. If you are an ideal laser eye surgery candidate, there is no medical reason why your consultation is no longer valid after 30, 60 or even 90 days.
As a patient, none of us ever want to be “sold” on LASIK surgery. We want to be educated on the LASIK procedure and to know if we are an ideal candidate, what we can expect on the day of surgery, and what the recovery process looks like. This level of detail and communication is appropriate and necessary when making this kind of healthcare decision.
Again, recognize that this is just another sales tactic. Are you looking for discount laser eye surgery? Why do they want to rush your decision? Typically, it’s because they are thinking about their bottom line and not about you, the patient. It makes no sense that a medical procedure should go on sale or be discounted to pressure you into a decision. Would you accept these tactics from a heart surgeon?
At Providence Eye, we believe there should be NO rush to schedule your LASIK surgery after your consultation! If you are asked to fill out a credit report, given you a discount, or asked you to sign on the dotted line, that is your cue to get out of there and get a second opinion. Find a LASIK surgeon who cares about you as an individual more than their bottom line.
Looking to be educated about LASIK without being pressured into surgery? Then contact Dr. Mozayeni at Providence Eye & Laser Specialists for a FREE, no obligation consultation.
