Questions to Consider about Laser Vision Correction Surgery in Saginaw-Bay City-Midland Area:

Many questions arise when a potential candidate for laser vision correction begins considering his or her options regarding this exciting procedure.  Which surgeon should I see, how good are the results, what are the risks and benefits, etc.?  If you are considering laser eye surgery, Saginaw is a wonderful place to begin.  At Envision Eye Care, with offices in Saginaw and Cass City, our staff can guide you and answer all your questions, putting your mind at ease well in advance of any scheduled surgery date.  Unfortunately, not all patients are candidates, but we will be honest and realistic in our assessment, with your best interest at heart. 

For those potential candidates for laser eye surgery, Midland area or laser eye surgery, Bay City area, as well as areas outside of the Great Lakes Bay region, Envision Eye Care is a great place to get all your questions and concerns addressed.  Dr. Krebs has had many years of success, and many happy patients throughout the Mid-Michigan area as well as the Thumb.  Give us a call to schedule a LASIK consultation or to speak with our LASIK coordinator for further information.  In the meantime, take some time to read through the following questions to better understand the procedure and what sets us apart from the rest! 

We have provided the questions below along with Dr. Krebs answers for your use should you contact other laser vision correction providers while researching the procedure. For additional information, please contact us or setup a free consultation.

1. Why should I choose to have laser vision correction with your practice?

The reason most people who have surgery come to us is very simple:

• They want to have a safe surgical experience. We don't cut corners. We don't use cheap equipment. We don't skimp on maintenance of the equipment. We won't perform surgery on you unless we would lay there in your place in the same circumstance.
• Our visual outcomes are very, very good. Why? Because we compulsively insist that data gathering on each of our patients is consistent, and must meet a very high standard before it is considered accurate enough to use in calculating a treatment plan. We further insist on seeing our patients back in follow-up ourselves so we know the desired outcomes are being achieved. We can give patients accurate odds of a visual outcome based on previous patient experience and then each individual can decide if those odds are adequate for them to proceed with surgery.
• We do all we can to earn and maintain the trust of those who honor us by allowing us to do their surgery. The relationship between a patient and doctor is completely different than between a consumer and a provider. Those that sell laser vision correction surgery as a commodity, and those who shop for it as such deserve each other. We are blessed to be able to choose to do surgery for those people we feel are good candidates. We feel no compulsion to push anyone to do laser surgery. We have always tried to honestly tell patients if we think they are good candidates for surgery after we get to know them better. We will continue to put the patient's interests first when it comes to laser surgery decisions.

2. When will I meet with the surgeon?

The laser vision correction surgeon at our practice sits down with each patient and examines them as well as get to know them before surgery. It is important to find out how a patient spends their day visually and what their particular visual needs may be (such as what various focal distances they work at). We also find out how patients spend their leisure time and address those specific visual needs as well. It is very important to explore each patient's expectations for laser vision correction surgery. If expectations are unrealistic or unreasonable then an honest discussion needs to occur explaining what can be achieved with laser vision correction for that particular person. The process of caring for patients and educating people takes time and effort as well as skill.

I believe when you lay down and look up at the blinking red target light of the laser prior to surgery, you should know long before that moment that your surgeon's motivation for performing your surgery is that they want to help you see well and live a better life with laser vision correction surgery. How can a patient trust that the doctor doing their surgery really has their best interest first and foremost in mind if they meet the surgeon for the first time while they are preparing to lay under the laser? How does that surgeon know you specifically or what you need? I would never trust anyone with my sight until I had investigated them thoroughly, had them examine me thoroughly, and sat and talked to them face to face to see if they are competent, honest and sincere. You will have those opportunities and choices when you see us at Envision Eye Care.

3. I’ve seen ads with the low prices. Will I get that price?

Read the fine print. There is a reason the print is small. Many of the prices offered at these centers are for very low prescriptions with no astigmatism as indicated in the fine print. Question every asterisk.

Some surgeons claim they are able to offer a reduced price due to owning their own laser.  Whether or not a surgeon owns their own laser has very little to do with the pricing structure if proper maintenance is performed on the laser and corners aren't being cut. In order for a laser to perform predictably, it requires regular maintenance and excimer lasers are very expensive to maintain.  For example, the mirrors inside the laser have to be replaced after a specific amount of usage or outcome variations can occur. These specialized mirrors cost up to tens of thousands of dollars.  Upgrades from the manufacturer for software and/or hardware are expensive.  Gas levels used by the laser must be maintained in order to produce a consistent beam.  Ignoring regular maintenance and gas levels used by the laser will save a surgeon money at the potential risk of patient visual outcomes.

Our laser company adheres to strict maintenance guidelines and all available updates and upgrades are routinely installed.  

4. How good are your LASIK results?

Our laser surgery results are among the very best I have seen.  98% percent of our patients see 20/20 or no worse than 20/25 after their first treatment. I wish I could claim it is because we are such gifted surgeons, but in reality it is because we are so compulsive about how we gather patient data pre-operatively and even more important is how we collect data post-operatively.

5. What safety measures do you take?

The first measure we take is to use the finest equipment possible to insure each patient's candidacy for laser vision correction.

Safety for our patients is our number one priority. I often say, "If the procedure is not safe for you, you don't want to have it." That is why we do our pre-operative measurements so carefully. We check and double-check everything. In surgery we have a series of procedural steps which we compulsively follow to assure that the calculations we use are the very best for your eyes. We test run the laser, the microkeratome and IntraLase and calibrate them individually before each eye we treat.

Everything we do is done to insure safe, predictable outcomes for our patients.

6. Do you do the follow-up exams?

I as your surgeon insist on doing the follow-up exams on our patients at the one day and one week visits. The exception is for patients from outside the area. In some cases, we work with outlying doctors who we know are well trained to do the early post-op visits. The remainder of the follow-up visits are mostly done to monitor your healing progress and for data collection. Some of these visits are with other doctor on our staff here at Envision Eye Care.

7. Am I a good candidate for laser vision correction and how does your evaluation differ from other evaluations?

To answer the first part of that question adequately, we start with a free, initial consultation here in our office. At this appointment, we will perform a series of diagnostic tests to ensure your candidacy for laser vision correction. We will also see you for additional preoperative appointments before surgery. Over the course of these visits, your eyes will be scanned by several diagnostic instruments and our doctors will perform a dilated retinal examination to assess your ocular health. Consideration will be given to how you use your eyes in a typical workday, what your visual needs are in your leisure time and most importantly, what you hope to gain from laser vision correction. Until we get to know you and your unique life needs, any answer is inadequate.

In regard to other evaluations, they all differ. They are usually done by a technician or staff member and sometimes by an Optometrist. At most high volume centers, you don't meet your surgeon until minutes before your actual surgery Many patients tell me they have been told they are good candidates for surgery at some other center. Often that candidacy is based on their ability to pay for the surgery, not whether it is the best option for them in order to better their life.

Our comprehensive consultation and preoperative appointments will include some familiar tests: refraction, pupil exam, eye motility exam, confrontational visual field, slit lamp exam, intraocular pressure, and dilation. However, there are additional examinations that are routinely done in our Saginaw practice for potential laser vision correction patients. They include the Bausch & Lomb Orbscan II, corneal thickness measurements, corneal curvature measurements using sophisticated corneal and eye mapping devices. All the data is gathered and analyzed during your preoperative visits with us. The data is then carefully correlated with a comprehensive history of how you use your eyes during a typical day. We also determine what your visual needs are during relaxation and recreational times as well as what your visual expectations are from laser vision correction. All that information is then evaluated in a personal consultation with your surgeon, who together with your input will use their expertise to advise you if laser vision correction is right for your eyes and your needs.

8. What are the complications involved with laser vision correction?

Those who know the practice of medicine from the inside know that the risks and outcomes of surgery vary significantly depending on who does the surgery and how they do it.

The risks that I worry about most with LASIK patients involve the risk of them "tweaking" their flap in the first 18 hours after surgery. A slight wrinkle in the flap can cause a decrease in vision. This is repairable in most cases, but delays good visual recovery. We also watch closely for infection or inflammation after surgery. Our experience is that these issues show up very rarely, (one in 2-3000) but are much easier to treat when caught early. That is why we insist on seeing you ourselves the day after surgery. Patients are placed on eye drops to control those problems. Usually infection or inflammation is seen very early, and the one day and one week follow-up visits further insure that you will be monitored for and promptly treated for those problems.

Additional complications can arise for patients if they elect to have surgery at another center.

9: What steps do you take to minimize risk?

Everything we do is designed to minimize risk and maximize benefit or outcome. We insist on treating the laser vision correction surgery area as a sterile operating facility. The staff wears masks and gloves as well as surgical scrubs. Since infection and inflammation are much less likely to occur with sterile conditions, we observe sterile protocol in surgery. In some facilities, the surgeon and staff dress in street clothes or don't use gloves and masks. Tours are even given of the surgery suite. We think that only increases the risk of contamination and exposure to the patients. Our entire focus is based on making laser vision correction surgery as risk free as possible.

10: Why Envision Eye Care over the others?

This is simple! We care about you.. We honestly do. From the first moment you walk into our offices you will see how we are different from anyone else.

If you have additional questions, please email or call us. We will be happy to help you in any way we can. If you would like to book a free LASIK consultation, click here or call our Laser Vision Correction department at 989-799-2020 in Saginaw, and 989-872-4900 in Cass City .