Funny this came up, I am -5 in both eyes and had an opthamologist say I was a good candidate and was checking the market recently when I found out a coworker's wife works at a LASIK office in CLT. He said something about the Dr had a bunch of cancellations that day only and the coworker's wife said if anyone could come down that day it would be $300 per eye. Usually they charge $600/eye normally. That $300/eye sounds almost scary cheap, what say you Tdub? That offer has passed but would you have done it? FWIW the coworker himself got his eyes done there already.

12/10/2014 7:04:20 PM

$600/eye sounds super cheap too

Does insurance ever help with this procedure...I'm thinking not cause it's elective.

12/10/2014 7:26:27 PM

got back from the consultation, apparently because of how shitty my eyesight is, and the severity of the astigmatism in my left eye, he recommended doing the custom flap "omnilase" procedure, which runs 2075 per eye, much more than i was hoping , I'm gonna look around and maybe get a second opinion, but I might just go for it, from most people's responses in here it sound like I'll be glad I did

[Edited on December 10, 2014 at 9:28 PM. Reason : $$$]

12/10/2014 9:27:45 PM

So do they strap down your head while this is done to keep your eyes still? A few years back I had an MRI done which revealed to me how super claustrophobic I am. Never knew it until I got into that MRI tube. Now even minor crap like being in a dentist chair while the dentist is over me sets off my heart rate and what not. It is really weird and frustrating to be honest. Anyway I just don't see myself being able to let the ophthalmologist secure my head down without it setting off a panic attack.

12/10/2014 10:12:36 PM

Maybe they can give you Xanax to calm down...

12/10/2014 10:23:57 PM

they do give you a xanex or percocet or something to help you relax beforehand

12/10/2014 10:37:00 PM

I forgot to add that they gave me a Xanax.

And the regular price on mine was ~$1850 per eye, got dropped to $1400 per eye with my insurance.

12/11/2014 12:24:34 PM

Farm Bureau has a program set up that will cut the costs in half. The original costs for both of my eyes was $4k, but with Farm Bureau insurance, my costs was $2k for both eyes.

And they definitely give plenty of relaxing pills to take for the procedure, and a pill to make you sleep afterwards.

But, hey, what do I know...I'm still in glasses

12/11/2014 3:48:11 PM

I have a consultation next Friday at Travers Lasik.

A friend of mine had lasik done with Travers last week and she said they tape your eyes open.

12/12/2014 11:56:41 AM

I finally have a consultation Mon for LasikPlus w/ intralase. Not sure how this differs from "regular" bladeless LASIK but whatever. I wonder if I should get the lifetime "tuneup" option...or if by the time I'll need one the technology will be so advanced I'll be on to the next

12/13/2014 1:18:02 AM

^ that's what I had 4 years ago. So easy. And I'm still seeing 20/15.

Best money I've ever spent!

12/18/2014 2:40:19 PM

I'm getting LASIK on Friday at Travers Lasik.

I didn't qualify for the one procedure thats $999 per eye. I qualifed for the $1799 per eye procedure. When they were doing all the tests on my eyes at the consultation, I realized just how terrible my eyesight is.


I'm nervous about Friday. I'll post an update after the procedure.

If I'm not blind.

1/5/2015 10:05:08 PM

I had mine done a few weeks ago, and i am very happy with it, wish i would have done it sooner

1/5/2015 10:14:50 PM

^^funny - I'm getting mine done on Friday as well!

When I went in for my initial consult I found out that I was also not "qualified" for the $699/eye price quoted on Humana's website and other advertising. Apparently because my eyes are so bad (-5.75) I need the "newest technology" (wavelight?) and was then quoted something ridiculous like $2300/eye.

I told them that was out of the question and left. Got an email from the office manager (who I had spoken to when I was there) the next day and after a little back and forth she offered me her "friends and family discount" of $1650/eye and my dad told me to just schedule it and be done with it.

I'm still nervous after reading a few of TWW's horror stories but the majority of people I've talked to think it is life-changing (in a good way) and they wish they had done it sooner. I hope the one Valium they're giving me will be enough.

1/5/2015 10:49:47 PM

Travers is giving me two Valium

One to take before the procedure and the other to take after so that I can go home and sleep

1/5/2015 10:51:11 PM

i was blind as hell before my lasik (couldn't see the toliet at night when I had to take a piss without my glasses). It has been 11 years since my lasik, and I still don't need any corrective lenses. It was painless and stress free during the procedure (valium is some crazy shit). One of the best decisions I ever made.

1/5/2015 10:51:25 PM

My vision was 20/30 in both eyes. Had both done with PRK about 12-13 years ago; took months to realize any improvement, but then they both settled at 20/15...over the years, both eyes slipped to 20/20, and now are back to 20/25 or maybe 20/30.

I had it done strictly to be a military pilot; to make a long story short, they fucked away the numbers, needed navigators really badly, and wouldn't let me switch back, so it was all for naught...it hurt like a motherfucker for several days, costed a few thousand bucks, and now I'm right back where I started.

I wear glasses to fly and shoot, and occasionally for driving and other stuff. I have a pair of rx Maui Jims that are bad ass for doing anything outdoors where I want that extra little bit of visual acuity.

1/5/2015 11:03:49 PM

fuckwads... make sure they give it to you in plenty of time before the procedure...

they gave me mine 5 min before i was miserable for the 5-10 min of the procedure and after i hurt like hell on the ride home then i passed out and woke up at midnight and could see as soon as i woke up... and it was all worth it.

And duke since you did it for flying I'm betting your eyes weren't done growing when you had it done and if you haddent had it don you'd be sitting at 20/50 or worse now.

My rx haddent changed in years when I had mine done so I'm confident it won't now. I'll just need readers when I get older.

[Edited on January 6, 2015 at 6:01 AM. Reason : .]

1/6/2015 5:55:15 AM

Quote :

"fuckwads... make sure they give it to you in plenty of time before the procedure... "

she told me not to take it until after I arrive so I can sign the paperwork and whatnot (maybe you'd be considered under the influence or something?), but that they would allow time for it to kick in.

now I'm wondering how much time that will be. I know they're going to re-do the measurements and stuff before the actual procedure.

1/6/2015 2:36:34 PM

^^ i was prob about 22. I know they had been 20/30 since I had been in high school at that point. I didn't actually wear glasses, though.

1/6/2015 5:40:49 PM

ok for me they told me to go back to the room and wait... they would bring it to me then.

so i did and they said ... ohh shit take it now... waited 5 min then started ... the "surgery only took a couple minutes and the thing didn't kick in till i was half way home.

for me it took about ~ 30 min to kick in fully.

1/6/2015 6:13:00 PM

My appointment on Friday is 3 hours long...so I'm guessing they'll give me the Valium with enough time for it to kick in

1/6/2015 8:03:07 PM

Quote :

"My vision was 20/30 in both eyes. Had both done with PRK about 12-13 years ago; took months to realize any improvement, but then they both settled at 20/15...over the years, both eyes slipped to 20/20, and now are back to 20/25 or maybe 20/30. "

Very similar story for me actually but my initial vision was awful going in. I think I was at 20/100. Had PRK done in 2003. After the surgery I was at 20/15 in both eyes until 2007 when I graduated and started working full time which meant 9 hours in front of a computer. They slowly crept up to 20/20, but my right eye then went up to about 20/30. Left eye is still at 20/20 though so even though I don't really need glasses to see well, I'll get headaches due to the difference in vision between the two. Regardless, waaaay better than the 20/100 I had going in and I'm still able to drive/fly without corrective lenses.

1/7/2015 9:02:44 AM

I keep thinking about getting this done...

If i ever did I think i would go 1 eye at a time, even if it cost more....

Just keep thinking to myself, if it works out its great, but if it doesn't you fucked up one of your most important senses on non essential surgery.

1/8/2015 3:58:46 PM

^Thats where Ive been the past 5 yrs, would love to have the results but just cant stand the thought of possibly fucking them up even worse than they are now.

1/8/2015 4:37:07 PM

All checked in, tests done and will be going in for my LASIK at 2p

1/9/2015 1:22:28 PM

GL

1/9/2015 1:33:10 PM

20/20 vision y'all

I'll post more about my experience later. Had to be up early for my follow-up procedure. Going back to bed

1/10/2015 8:28:04 AM

Awesome! Congratulations

1/10/2015 8:38:00 AM

Yup 20/20 here too

There were about 10 seconds of pure terror when Dr Travers put this suction thing on my eyes. There was crazy intense pressure and my vision went completely dark. She then took the suction off and my vision came back. Then she started the laser. You focus on this green light. The worst part of the whole laser part was the smell. It smelled like burnt hair.

I came home, took my 2nd Valium and laid down to sleep for 4-6 hours. That's what I hoped would happen anyway. I woke up, grabbed my phone and asked Siri what time it was (cause I didn't want to open my eyes). Realized I had only been asleep for 2 hours. The 2 Valiums didn't do shit for me. So I had to lay down for another 2 hours with my eyes closed. Finally opened my eyes at 8pm. Opened my eyes and I could see but my eyes were sore. Ate dinner, popped a sleeping pill and was out by 8:30. Slept til 7am this morning. Took the protective shields off. Eyes felt great. Started my eye drops and drove myself to my follow up.

I have another follow up on Monday. The hardest thing now is the drops. I've never had to do eye drops before. It's a learning experience.

1/10/2015 2:59:16 PM

Okay, so here is my experience.

Was only prescribed the one valium (even after I called saying a friend in North Carolina was prescribed two, could I also have two?). Immediately upon arriving and signing all the paperwork, I asked if I could go ahead and take it. No, have to wait to do the preliminary exam. After that: can I take my pill? No, I need to wait to see the first doctor to double-check the measurements. How about now? No, have to wait until I meet with the surgeon. FINALLY they take me back to the little room (connected to the "operating room") where I would meet with the surgeon and get post-op instructions. He is a super nice guy, we chat for about ten minutes, and he asks if I'm ready to go. Ummm, no, I'd like to take my pill, can I do that now? So I pop it in and he tries to direct me to the OR. Ummmm...should we give it SOME TIME TO KICK IN? At this point I am way more anxious than I need to be and start crying, I feel like they've completely forgotten about my pill and realize that they probably give them mostly as placebos. He decides to let the nurses take a 15-min break and let my valium have time to kick in. He comes back in and talks with me more which does ease my nerves, and at some point I actually start to feel relaxed. I say some prayers and tell them I'm ready.

The nurses were AMAZING, talked and coached me through the whole thing (You're doing great Megan, only 15 more seconds, keep your eyes steady, now only 8 more, you can do it). To be honest, the procedure was horrifying for me and I don't know if I could have done it without the valium. It felt like a clockwork orange situation. After they cut the flap they made me OPEN MY EYES AND WALK TO THE LASER STATION. Wtf, that was really upsetting to me. Couldn't they have just led me over there with my eyes closed?

Anyway, what fuckwads said about the burning smell. That was unpleasant (psychologically). But 20 seconds later, I sat up and saw the clock on the wall. I had taken a percocet right after I took the valium so at this point I'm starting to feel good. My dad brought me home (to my parents house) and after making him bring me my special drink (diet 7up with pineapple juice over rat-turd ice) I slept in the recliner for as long as I could, about 3 hours. Did my drops and was able to watch a show with my dad that night with my brand new eyes.

I was told you're not even supposed to dab around your eyes (even on your cheeks) to clean up excess drops/tears...she demonstrated dabbing around my jawline. So I've been super paranoid about touching my eyes, although I've accidentally itched/rubbed them a few times. I believe this is just extra-precautionary; I think your flaps heal within the first 24 hours. THat said, I've been trying very hard to sleep with the sunglasses on, but that is only going to last another day or two - I've been getting shit sleep trying to sleep on my back and with those on.

Annnnyway...this has been nothing short of a miracle and I absolutely LOVE waking up in the middle of the night and being able to SEE. Today is my first day back at work and I did just put my reading glasses on (a very mild prescription...I don't even know what it is, I stole them from my coworker 5 years ago...that just makes my eyes feel better when using the computer). I should probably address that with them when I go for my 3-week checkup.

I hope you've all enjoyed my word vomit.

1/12/2015 3:39:27 PM

I don't have to go back for any checkups unless I encounter a problem

Your post op sounds like a lot more work than mine. But mine was all laser, no cutting or anything.

I fucking love my eyes.

I CAN SEEEE

I can stop the medicated drops tonight.

Can't get my eyebrows waxed for another couple weeks though. Never realized how bushy my eyebrows are

1/16/2015 2:47:04 PM

good!!

1/16/2015 9:16:20 PM

good!!

1/16/2015 9:16:20 PM

good!!

1/16/2015 9:16:20 PM

^^^why no waxing? I didn't hear anything about that

1/18/2015 6:40:48 PM

My doctor said two weeks was the norm for waiting for eye brow waxing

I go to a lady that is kind of rough on my eyebrows but gets amazing results...so I decided I'd wait a couple extra weeks to make sure I'm all healed before I let her beatup on my eyebrows

1/18/2015 9:40:06 PM

Was thinking about going to Shapiro in Greensboro for a consultation. Tired of having to worry about contacts all the time.

I've heard (and wanted to ask) that several people have to get reading glasses after surgery. Is this true? Are any of you required to have reading glasses when you didn't used to need them?

8/6/2016 1:56:59 PM

I'm more than a year and a half out (had the surgery a year ago January) and haven't needed any sort of reading glasses

8/8/2016 1:22:19 PM

Just had it done last Friday. The meds helped, but man that procedure just felt...weird. A lot of pressure too with that suction device.

One question. My left eye seems to be doing pretty well, but my right is still a little blurry. I saw one reply that it took months to see any improvement, but what is everyone else's recovery time? I'm guessing 3 days is way too early to tell if I need a retouch or if it didn't work, but just still curious.

8/29/2016 10:01:01 PM

Are you going back for any re-visits? I went back about 3 days after my procedure for a checkup. I would definitely call and ask about getting a checkup done if you're noticing blurriness. I didn't notice anything when I had mine done. Did you do all laser?

yeah, the pressure from the suction felt really weird. and the smell when Dr Travers turned on the laser and went to town on my eyeball. Burnt hair smell

8/30/2016 8:20:40 AM

I had a follow up the day after and they said everything appeared to be healing correctly. I called today and they said it was still a bit early to be concerned, and I have another appointment scheduled for the end of September. I could go in next week to check, but I guess it worried me because I spoke to maybe 10 people beforehand that had the surgery and no one had this issue.

Really didn't want to already have to think about going back in for another round. Was hoping to fly through this without any problems.

8/30/2016 10:31:17 PM

Still not much improvement. May go in next week. Definitely not worthwhile to read anything about blurriness after Lasik on the internet though...nothing good comes of it.

9/2/2016 9:47:05 AM

I'm planning to have this done end of Oct/early November. Can't wait!

9/2/2016 12:41:54 PM

^^I'm surprised a 1-week post-op appt wasn't mandatory (it is with all the places around here). I had to do following morning, 1 week, and then 3 mos (or something).

I would DEFINITELY go back in if there's anything weird, especially blurred vision (versus mild discomfort, which is normal). Your eyes are too precious to chance it. I had 20/20 vision by the next morning, and 20/15 at both followups

9/2/2016 5:25:53 PM

Anyone experiencing any halos at night?

My low light vision is awesome and I don't want to ruin it for driving if I don't have to.

Though 20/15 sounds amazing. That's what my corrected vision is now.

9/16/2016 10:31:21 PM

Did Shapiro end up doing your procedure?

9/16/2016 11:11:29 PM

I have pretty bad halos at night and was told not to expect that to go away. But I've kinda grown fond of them, makes everything a bit dreamy

9/17/2016 3:54:25 AM

Dang. I can't get any corrective surgery until that issue gets sorted out.

9/17/2016 10:05:50 PM

Quote :

"Did Shapiro end up doing your procedure?"

Are you asking me? Yeah he did. Honestly I'm not very happy about the whole thing, and regret the surgery now.

Been over 3 weeks now, and I've still got blurry vision. I went in last Thursday, and they checked my eyes and said they were healing correctly. He was very standoffish like I was bothering him by questioning how good he is at the surgery. He said it was still too early, give it time, etc. I'm supposed to go back in 6 weeks for another appointment, and if still blurry they would consider an "enhancement". What worries me about that is there are a lot of horror stories about enhancements online. They don't use the suction machine, apparently he just goes in and lifts the flap. I think I read that the flap never fully heals?

Maybe this will be better in a couple of months, I don't know. As of right now I see worse than I did with contacts and it pisses me off. Of course you can't wear contacts after the surgery, so I may have to go back to glasses after this is all done.

I guess someone has to be in that 3-5% of people that it doesn't work for.

9/18/2016 9:38:48 PM