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The Doctor as Patient: One of Vista's Own :
I'm Ann Marie Spencer, an optometrist in New York, and I work at Vista Alliance with Dr. Barrie Soloway. I would usually see patients in the examining room next to him. He was continually bringing in post-operative patients the first day after LASIK to his examination room. All these patients would walk in with clear plastic shields on their eyes, big smiles and happily telling everyone how amazed they were at their vision. On the first day after LASIK they would be able to read the chart, and they had no pain. Before this, being an optometrist I was completely aware of every possible complication from the earlier ways of treating nearsightedness, and I had never considered refractive surgery for myself. I thought it was plastic surgery and an unnecessary risk. Besides, who would ever want to touch a healthy eye? Also, my prescription wasn't that bad (-3.50 -1.25 x 180 in the right eye and -3.75 -1.00 x 180 in the left eye). But after I saw all these patients passing through the office for over a year, I started looking at Dr. Soloway's numbers. I found that he didn't have any long-term complications and that everyone was seeing well.
I had been wearing glasses since I was nine, and I decided that I just didn't want to deal with my contact lenses anymore one day at the beach. I had the work-up for the procedure in July 1997 at Vista Alliance's office by Dr. Ali. My eyes had stabilized from my contact lenses by August and I had the LASIK procedure at the laser center. The people at the center were fantastic! They took the final measurements there, and I met with Dr. Soloway just before we went into the laser suite. Like most people, I was a little anxious before the procedure, but Dr. Soloway let me know every step along the way. With his gentle reassurance, it was over before I knew it. I didn't feel any pain during or after the procedure. I saw better right after the procedure, but the next morning was amazing. I saw 20/15 with my right eye and 20/20 with my left. I went to work that day in the ophthalmology department at a hospital in Brooklyn, and all the doctors there wanted to examine my eyes. They were amazed that I had LASIK the day before and my eyes looked so normal to them. They had trouble even seeing that anything was done!
It has been almost a year since I had the surgery, and I still see great. I can swim, ski and mountain bike much more comfortably now. The best thing is still opening my eyes in the morning and seeing everything clearly right away. The freedom from dependency on glasses or contact lenses, the amazing transformation from blur to clarity, I deeply appreciate what laser vision correction and Dr. Soloway have done for me. I can't thank Dr. Soloway enough for my "new eyes". If you have any questions about LASIK laser vision correction, I would recommend that you e-mail Vista Alliance or call them toll free at:
1 (888) NYLASIK
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