Sharing Success

For the first time in years I can see the alarm clock from my pillow !! I can fall asleep watching tv and not worry about bending my glasses out of whack or waking up hours later and have to peel dry contact lenses off my eyes. It's the best money I've ever spent on myself. Within one week I had 20/15 vision. I have highly reccomended TLC to everyone I know who wears glasses or contact lenses.

- Erin McGuire

Dear TLC,

I just want to say a HUGE thank you to TLC for changing my life. I am a 28 year old mother of three and I have had extremely poor vision for as long as I can remember. My left eye was somewhere around 20/350 or so and the correction between the two eyes made wearing glasses or contacts impossible for me because of headaches. So, I was literally living my life in a fog only wearing glasses to drive. I was never able to see my children clearly, I'd never seen a sunset clearly, and the biggest problem for me was that, as an artist, I was never able to stand back from my work and see the big completed picture clearly. See, I was painting murals in a hospital for sick children and psychiatric patients and it was so extremely hard to pursue my dream and not see the result.

I was a bit nervous going in for the surgery, but it was literally only about 5 minutes long and completely painless. The next morning when I opened up my eyes for the first time and saw my husband's excited smile, I cried. It was so amazing! I would stand looking out the window just watching squirrels and marveling that I could see every hair standing out on their bushy tails....That day, when I took my three kids outside I had never noticed the way that my 2 year old son scrunches up his nose when he examines a bug or how the sun shines on my daughter's hair when she runs.

My eye doctor says that I now have 20/15 vision in both eyes and my headaches from a lifetime of squinting are completely gone. My recovery was relatively quick and I have had no complications. I'm back to my love of painting and I can see my wonderful husband wink at me across a crowded room. God is so good!

Dear TLC,

I will admit that I was both apprehensive and scared. I happen to be the type of person to which Murphy's law always applies, therefore one might be able to understand my apprehension. One of my co-workers had the laser surgery and a few of the guys at work were talking about the idea. I couldn't wait to speak to my friend Lewis personally because I wanted to get the real story on the whole LASIK procedure from him first hand. Lewis told me, very non-chalantly, that the procedure wasn't any big deal at all and that it had been completed in a matter of moments. He has 20/15 vision and was very happy with the outcome. I found it difficult to believe that he was so calm about the whole thing, and that there wasn't anymore detail to really explain. I even made Lewis sit there while I looked very closely into his eyes to see if I could see some kind of telltale sign as to what he had really had done, I found nothing.

Several other guys had the procedure and raved about their results, my husband felt that now was the time to take advantage of this type of "miracle" and I wholeheartedly agreed. I had to not wear my contacts for a month so my eyes could go back to their natural shape, I suppose that truly this was the worst part of the whole process. I had always hated my geeky thick glasses and have always felt that they had kept me at a true distance from the world. I know now that in truth that my contacts and glasses both kept me at a distance from the way the world truly looks.

My sister drove me to TLC on the day of surgery, I guess the thing that was my greatest shock was when I walked in the door I saw every patient who was waiting in the waiting room with their thick glasses and said to myself, "Gosh, this looks like a geek convention," then I realized that I too was here just like all the other patients in my ludicrously thick lens glasses. Don't get out of bed before rummaging to find the specs. I believe that my husband was happy to pay for the procedure because he had witnessed the dozens of times I had been handicapped suddenly by the simple act of dropping a contact lens or having my glasses fall off the bedside table. I guess he just saw how incapable I was without these aids.

So here I was waiting for my turn to have my "miracle". I thought about how many times I had heard the ads about the "miracle" of LASIK surgery and thought, is that the dumbest slogan? It just sounds sooo fake! I went through the process of having my vision tested and retested by the TLC staff to insure that all of my eye doctor's measurements were correct. I asked all sorts of questions and informed everyone that I was always the person to whom everything went wrong, and that they should be aware of it. I was briefed along every step of the procedure what they were measuring for, and all the safety checks and rechecks that go on before I even got near the operating area.

I was scared to death, terrified, I lay in a special chair and held a reassuring hand. The doctor put numbing drops into my eyes and put an eyelid holder on my eyes, it was about as aggravating as opening for the dentist, not a big deal, but I was still a wreck because I was waiting for something painful or scary to happen. The doctor placed a little amount of pressure onto my eye for a few seconds, withdrew the pressure and then asked me to look at a swirly red dot, an assistant counted backward fifteen, fourteen, thirteen and so on, and it was all over. I guess I should have believed Lewis when he made the whole thing sound like it wasn't a big deal. While my other eye was being done I was so much more relaxed because now I understood that there was not anything to fear and that it would be complete in a jiffy.

I had little goggles to wear home, and to bed for a few nights. The staff recommended that I go home and take a nap directly after the procedure. I had been very nervous and it took a lot out of me. After sleeping I felt a little uncomfortable, but I was able to see quite clearly. By evening I was comfortable and seeing great. I visited my eye doctor the following day and he remarked how amazing this procedure was because the incision was so precise that it was barely noticeable under the microscope. I now have 20/15 vision, and my astigmatism is gone. I no longer have to struggle to read street signs, or walk around squinting, unable to focus properly. I now understand how a slogan like the "miracle of LASIK" surgery could have begun. No matter how hard I try, I am unable to find a phrase that could ever describe this to anyone who might be interested in understanding the difference between true good vision versus vision with glasses. I no longer look out at the world from behind the window of my glasses. I see now as if I have walked out from behind that window and out into the "real" world. I have seen the miracle of fall this year with the wonder and awe of a child. Every leaf is on showy display for me to take in every detail. Thank you TLC, I thank you every morning when I open my eyes and realize this is not a dream.

Something to think about for those who think they do well with their glasses: an analogy; would you, if you broke your leg, opt to fix it or walk around with a brace holding it, perhaps sturdily, but still broken, for the rest of your life. You would get it fixed, right? Laser surgery is just the same.

Dear TLC,

I am writing this letter to say that I was extremely impressed with the entire staff and the service that I received for my surgery on Friday February 18, 2000. Everyone was exceptionally friendly and made me feel comfortable and confident that the surgery would go well. I would especially like to thank Dr. Kanellopoulos for doing this procedure and Dr. Thimons for the post-operative care. It is only 2 days after and I am seeing amazing results. I would defiantly recommend the TLC Laser Eye Center for anyone who is contemplating this surgery.

Dear TLC Laser Eye Centers,

My sister and I were in your office on May 30th for laser eye surgery and I wanted to let someone know how truly happy I am, not only with the results of the surgery but with the staff at the center. Personally, I was very close to backing out of the surgery just days before the date of the surgery and it is all thanks to your very patient and very understanding "counselor" Nadine that I did not. It is rare to come across such a well informed, professional, and concerned person, she made the experience of surgery as much of a delight as humanly possible, (which is not an easy thing to do).

Every staff member in office that day made such an attempt to make us feel comfortable and secure with our decision to have the surgery. At no point were my sister or myself left alone and at no point did we ask a question that did not get an immediate response. I will be the first to admit that I am not a relaxed patient but I think that everyone that spoke with me handled me with confidence and finesse. Dr. Donnenfeld performed the surgery with great efficiency, and according to my current vision, with great accuracy. Dr. Thimons went above and beyond to ensure that I was not in a great deal of pain and to make sure that I had the information about a doctor that I could see here in Boston.

I just wanted to say thank you for everyone's supportive words and kind gestures.

Thank you very much,
MJR