Laser eye surgery - am I being conned?

corkcat

Hi,

I’ve been considering laser eye surgery as my partner had it many moons ago and it is, in his words, the best thing he ever did.

I am short sighted with a prescription of about -2.50 in one eye and -3.0 in another.

I had hoped to be a candidate for LASIK surgery.

I attended a consultation with Optical Express in Cork. In Cork, it’s more of an opticians shop with glasses etc. as opposed to a dedicated centre for laser only. I did the scans with a ‘member of staff’ who was lovely. That was then followed up by an eye test with the optician on duty / optometrist. The optician was quite a “seller” pointing out how it was the best thing since sliced bread, how environmentally friendly it is etc. I had gone in expecting to have my pupils dilated. He never dilated my pupils. He did the normal craic you get when you go for a routine eye test. He then said I had a “scar” on my right eye and so I was only suitable for Lasek. I was unaware of any scar on my eye and it had never been mentioned during any eye tests before. Similarly, I’d had a small accident with a foreign body in the eye (a minuscule bit of a splinter/bark) though I could swear it was in the other eye (though can’t remember). He then quoted me over 5,500 euro for the surgery and that they’d send me to Dublin for it as the don’t do surgeries in Cork. They gave me tue name of which surgeon would do it. I left quite disappointed. I’d had my heart set on LASIK. I came round to it after reading about the procedure etc, but was struggling to justify the money.

I had another consultation then with Optilase in Cork. They were very good; very thorough and the optometrist was a delight. Really knowledgeable and spent a lot of time with me answering all my questions. He also showed me the theatre where the surgery would take place, how the machines would sound etc. he dilated my pupils as I’d expected to be the case. He said I was suitable for LASIK! At this point I brought up the scar. I hadn’t told him of it to see if he’d see it. He assured me there was no scarring and he also redid the test where he’d detect it and confirmed it wasn’t there. I told him it was said to be at “5 O Clock” in my eye and he said that there’s no scar. He quoted me for lasik at 3900 euro. Quite the difference.

I thought consultation was top class and very professional. I also noted that the optometrist had had the procedure himself and had been doing the job for over 12 years.

the surgeon on the day will be the same surgeon that I was told would do it in Optical Express!

I am pretty certain I’ll go for it with Optilase.

I’m just weirded out as ti why the first guy said I had a scar and then quoted me over 5500 euros and why he didn’t perform the dilation, and some of the other “fancy stuff” I got at Optilase such as a go in the idesign machine!

SamBlumenthal

You said the second optometrist redid the test to reassure you about the scar. No point in doubting the result, I guess. Go ahead with this one and have a safe LASIK!

mickdw

The first guy was simply upselling it would appear.