DID YOU KNOW . . . . . . last spring a patient went to Chicago to have her laser done CHEAPER. It didn't happen.

She paid a deposit ahead of time to secure a scheduled appointment. She traveled to Chicago and paid for a hotel room along with gas and other miscellaneous items including a day off from work.

On the day of her procedure she was completely prepped for surgery. Her surgical gown was on including shoe covers and cap. She had taken her Valium and her eyes were prepared and ready to go. She was sitting in the waiting room when a technician came out and announced that the doctor has left for the day and everyone would have to be rescheduled!

The patient asked if Dr. "Jones" had an emergency. The technician looked at her strangely and said that Dr. "Jones" was not doing the surgery. A Dr. "Smith" was doing her LASIK procedure. The patient stated Dr. "Jones" was the physician that was advertised in the CHEAPER laser surgery ad in the newspaper. The ad said that he had performed over 10,000 procedures. Feeling mislead and quite upset, the patient did not want to reschedule and was trying to get her money back.

BE INFORMED! Know who is doing your surgery. Make sure your laser doctor has done your evaluation and discussed the best option for your unique eyes. Experience and Quality of care are crucial-you have one pair of eyes.

DID YOU KNOW . . . . . . $499 per eye is not really $499 per eye! A current newspaper ad for $499 Laser Vision Correction is running in our local newspaper. A quick 20-minute evaluation is done locally (your evaluation at GRO is 2 hours). The surgery is done in a different state. Once you have gone through the quick evaluation, you find out the true cost of your surgery per eye. The $499 is base price. If your prescription is higher and more complicated, the price is higher.

That also does not factor in the cost of the evaluation, enhancements and follow up visits. Add the 2 over night hotel stays, food, gas and the time missed from work. A patient went through this $499 surgery and kept track of his expenses. It cost him $2600 for both eyes! The same price if he would have come to Grand Rapids Ophthalmology. He wishes he would have.