Lasik/PRK Amazon Deal Gone Bad - 9/24/2014

I am 43 yrs old, born and raised in Cincinnati, and always dreamed of corrective eye surgery. I did research for over ten years, waiting for the price to drop, and this summer I received an Amazon email notification of a $2,000 deal with a Manhattan doctor on the upper east side. I hit the purchase button and made the appt to get the ball rolling with the first consultation. I could not wait to finally be contact/glasses free! The assistant did the eye exams with the machines and rays of light that shine into each eye and some eye drops that made my eyes very sensitive to light and another eye test was made after 20 minutes. I was asked to wait for the doctor to see me in another room. When I got face time with the eye doctor, the assistant reviewed the results with him in front of me. I had high eye pressure and thin corneas. She left the room and he proceeded to explain: the surgery was not going to be a problem to successfully complete, but, I had the indicators of future glaucoma, and at least I would need prescriptive eye drops which could help stall it. I asked him were there any holistic approaches to elevating eye pressure and his response was no, he was not aware of any information in that regard. They asked that I not wear my lenses for a week and return for a follow up to review again for confirmation that my eyes were healthy enough for surgery. The assistant also suggested that why don’t I make the Lasik appt for the following thurs which is their surgery day if everything checked out ok and get it over and done with. I agreed tentatively. I did research in that week about glaucoma. Most of the info online said it was safe to proceed. I went back to the office that following monday and I wanted to ask more questions, but all I got was a new awkward assistant reviewing my eyes and taking notes.I tried to ask him questions but he was not rehearsed in interacting with patients. The doctor quickly walked into the room and shook my hand and said ‘see you on thurs’ and walked out before I could ask him any important questions. I go to the assistant at the appt desk and they wanted to fix the time of my surgery. I was pensive and she assured me everything would be fine. Another woman overheard us and she popped up out of her seat and gave me a testimonial how her surgery went with the doctor 8 months prior and she’s so glad she did it. The appt booking assistant concurred, having had Lasik years ago with no complications. Cheerleaders for Lasik! 99% of the friends and friends of friends who’d had the surgery had only good things to say, which puzzled me, only friend of a friend confessed not being happy, with blurry vision and dry eye. My network of friends research almost convinced me to proceed but... I did more research when i got to my computer and I found websites, read all of the entries of so many people who wished to God they had never let a doctor cut on their eyeballs. The youtube videos of whistleblowers was the what kicked the bucket though. All those people explaining their dependence on eye drops due to of dry eye after surgery side effect that never went away was the warning bell, and I got a flash back of the doctor noting I would need prescription eye drops for the glaucoma, but this was his way of consciously telling me that I would need eye drops not just for glaucoma but dry eye too. The illuminati always have to tell us up front what they are doing to get away with hurting us and getting us dependent on something. Then I remember asking this doctor who looked to be in his early 60’s about holistic healing of the eye, and how in all of his years of practice he’s never heard of anything outside prescriptive medicine that helps to heal the eye? First red flag. I emailed the assistant the day before the surgery and told her that I was not comfortable and I wanted to postpone or cancel because I was afraid of having dry eye disease. She responded in email that they had scheduled me for PRK instead of Lasik because it had better results for people with my eye characteristics. Big red flag number two. Why didn’t they tell me that important change of plan on Monday? I fortunately did my research on PRK and it had the same basic risks. I called Amazon and told them my story, they were on my side, and I was credited the full amount charged. Thanks to all of you that took time to warn the public of the awful and life changing experiences from elective cosmetic corrective eye surgery, and I hope someone reads my post and decides to err on the side of caution and not let surgeons cut on their eyeballs. ~ Brandon