For several years now, my wife and I have dreamed of the possibility of living life without the handcuffs of contacts or glasses. After a nice annual bonus from work, we decided to take the plunge. After hearing of recommendations from several friends, we decided to contact Lasik MD in Windsor, Canada. We had been repeatedly told that both their prices and service were outstanding.

We set up our initial screening appointments in mid December for later that month. We were surprised to be able to get in with only a two week advance notice. Tentatively, our screening was set for a Thursday, if "eligible", the surgery would be on that Friday, and a required follow up would be on that Saturday morning. We booked our hotel stay right next to the Laser surgery office which happened to be directly across the rive from Detroit for about $120 a night.

the first appointment ~ are we eligible?

Finally, our time had come! Upon entering Canada, it took only a few minutes to reach the hotel. We arrived with plenty of time to spare for our 1:00pm appointments. Once we arrived to their offices (which by all appearances suggested that business had been booming), we were immediately greeted by a professional and friendly receptionist who gave us our obligatory 20 pages of paperwork to fill out. Apparently being sued is not part of their business plan! The paperwork covered everything from the terminology (which can be a bit intimidating), to the procedure itself, to the inherent risks involved.

Bring your iPod because you'll be waiting awhile. But because we were so excited about the possibilities of finally ditching the glasses, it wasn't that bad. What we found most interesting was watching the other patients, some who were at the same stage as us, but others who were already wearing their obligatory issued post-surgery black sunglasses. Fashion is not a factor at this point! You could sense the anticipation of all these 20 or so people hoping to finally rid their lives of glasses.

At that point, we were called in for what seemed to be an otherwise routine optometrist appointment. They ask you a few questions, check your vision, measure your eyes, and give you eye drops that dilate your pupils. None of which was uncomfortable or painful. Perhaps after another hour or so they called us in to give us our status, surgery options, and price. Keep in mind that up until this point, our cost is nothing until we agree to surgery.

the news we'd been waiting for

For us, this is where things didn't go quite as planned. Fortunately for me, with a pre-surgery near sighted prescription of -2.75 and -3.25 (which means I couldn't function without wearing glasses), I was ready to roll. I could have their "normal" surgery for about $1500 and we scheduled my surgery for the next morning. They did tell me that my pupils were slightly enlarged which could result in less than perfect results, including halos (seeing a haze around lights mostly at night). I happily signed a disclaimer that I was fine with this "risk".

Things didn't go quite as smoothly for my wife, who had a prescription of -5.75 and -6.50 (which means absolute dysfunction without glasses). She was told her cornea's were too thin for "routine" surgery and that her only option was the "PRK" surgery. I'll avoid an attempt at explaining the medical differences but it's suffice to say that the cost would be about double the normal surgery, the procedure itself and the after care would be more uncomfortable, the healing period would take longer, and the likelihood of 20/20 vision was quite low. After a few tears, she decided she wasn't about to take that risk (or pay the price) and that we'll give it a few years and see what newer technology might bring. We walked away with mixed emotions for sure.

the day of eye surgery

Upon arrival to my surgery appointment, I signed off a few final disclaimers, paid them in full (we used a Visa to make things easier), got my supply of prescription eye drops (steroids, antibiotics, and such) and waited my turn. They called me in to another pre-surgery waiting area with two other people. Another nurse cleaned our faces and eyelids and gave us our final pep talk. Once in the surgery room (one person at a time), the Doctor introduced himself. He was genuinely friendly and understanding. I laid back in the chair, they told me to sit still. You don't have to tell me twice, though they did say that there was no way me moving would risk the surgery or results. Obviously I couldn't see what they were doing, but it felt like they put something in my eye to hold me eyes wide open. Again, not at all painful. Not more than 5 minutes after entering the room, they were doing the surgery. I remember them telling me to watch the "little light" and focus my eye on it. They made some kind of a cut to my eye (no pain) and suddenly all I could see was what seemed like a kaleidoscope of colors. It was the most surreal experience of the whole process. They then "zapped" my eye for what may have been only 30 seconds and it was done. Then they did the other eye. In total, I was in "surgery" for about 15 minutes or so. I was sent back to the "pre-surgery" waiting area for a few minutes, given my cool black shades, and reminded of my follow-up appointment Saturday morning. Things were hazy and cloudy at that point, but glasses at this point were a thing of the past. I went back to the hotel room, took the sedative pill they gave me, and slept for 3-4 hours. Perhaps the most uncomfortable thing of it all was the itchiness and dryness, the feeling of wanting to itch something but knowing you can't. They checked my eyes the next morning, and reminded me of the importance of the required three follow-up checkups over the course of three months.

the immediate aftermath

For the first couple days, I was still hesitant to proclaim success because of the intermittent cloudiness. I was assured (both on paper and in person) that this would subside and as time went, my vision would improve. And that it did. The one bit of advice I'd offer is that if you work on computers for your job, you should try to put more than 3 days between the surgery and work. It was tiring on the eyes to focus on the computer so quickly. The other warning I'd offer is that you need to be prepared to be a eye drop junkie for awhile. They give you a fairly strict timeline of different drops to take for the first week or so. Some you take every hour, some every day, and some twice a day. It's a bit irritating to keep track of them all, but I'd consider this a small price to pay.

follow-up care after laser correction

Now had we lived closer to Windsor, we could have done our follow-up at their clinic. But because it was such a drive for us, we decided to find a local optometrist to do our follow-up care. This added another $300 to the total cost. I should also add that it wasn't that easy to find someone willing to do it, but Lasik MD has a list of partners that will do the follow-up care (for an added fee). In fact, we called RxOptical, who my family has seen for over 10 years, to schedule our appointment and they flat out refused because of "liability". But a different office was more than happy to do it (for $300). Needless to say, we no longer use RxOptical. While I no longer need them anyway, my family (who each seem to spend about $300 a year after insurance), will be going somewhere else. We're bitter about that and if me writing this will lose them 10 customers, I'll be satisfied.

the verdict ?

The first month after surgery was interesting. Sometimes my vision was perfect, and at other times, well, not so. I did have the halo effect which was only irritating when facing oncoming cars at night. While it was irritating for me, it was never a safety concern at all. You can still see, but you get some haziness around lights. Fortunately, this went away. Six months later, I am 100% thrilled with the decision to have this done. I bought a really expensive pair of sunglasses that I keep with me all the time. I still reach for my glasses in the morning as it's hard to deprogram your brain after 25 years of dependence on wearing glasses. But I don't need them. All in all, we paid around $2,000 for the surgery. But I'll tell you what, I'd pay $10,000 tomorrow if I had to. Lasik MD Windsor and Dr. Richard Baines did an awesome job. It will literally change your life. Laser eye correction is the way to go and if you can afford it, don't hesitate.