As long as I can remember, I have been really nearsighted. I was the kid who always had the thickest glasses. I never let it slow me down, and got along fine wearing either glasses or contacts for years. But secretly, way down deep, I wished something were possible that could make this problem go away. I had heard about RK but was told my prescription was too strong to correct completely with that surgery. Plus I had talked to some friends who had had it and weren’t completely happy. A friend at Brentwood Country Club told me she was going to have LASIK, and I was intrigued. She was kind of my “”test case”” for this new surgery. When she told me how happy she was, I knew I had to see Dr. Wallace. My goal with LASIK was to get the most perfect distance vision possible.
I knew going in that, at my age, to have clear distance vision would mean I would need glasses to read, but that was OK. If you love the game of golf as much as I do, you’ll understand. Besides, what’s more important — being able to watch the ball sail down the fairway, or seeing the score card? I let someone else keep score anyway. I’m really pleased with the result.
As I told Dr. Wallace, I’d do it again 100 times out of 100.
Doctor Wallace says:
Chris was very clear about what he wanted: perfect distance correction for both eyes. As he is a high myope, I explained that there was an increased likelihood that initial LASIK and possibly a second “”enhancement”” treatment would be necessary to “”nail it””. We also carefully reviewed the issues of presbyopia and the impact on close vision this surgery would have. I told him it would be unrealistic to expect that his vision would be as clear as with his old gas perm lenses. I was extremely pleased in this case that the amount of correction aimed for was so very close to what was achieved. This is not always the case in the higher myopia range. Many factors contribute to this kind of accuracy that the patient is unaware of: The quality of the laser, the stability of the excimer beam profile, the internal calibration of the machine, the service and upgrade history of the laser, and (what I can take credit for) the technical ability of the surgeon. All these factors contribute to such a great result.
I should also mention that Chris is representative of another important process that has helped build my practice. Very satisfied patients talk a lot about LASIK, and enthusiastically recommend their friends to me. It is interesting that, while many are shy or prefer to be demure about other ‘aesthetic’ kinds of surgery, that’s not the case with LASIK at all. People who are happy will gladly spread the word!
