Always Get A Second Opinion

For a long time, the line between what was and what wasn’t possible was solid and definitive like a concrete wall.

But in 2018, with technologies advancing at an ever more rapid pace and new innovations replacing old ones all the time, we’re realising it’s actually much more like a fine line in the sand.

Nowhere is this more noticeable than in the field of vision correction.

For example, walk up any high street in search for a fix for your vision, and you can be offered a medical apparatus that hasn’t changed much since the middle ages, contact lenses, or a cutting-edge laser procedure that within just a few minutes can achieve vision equivalent to that through glasses.

And it doesn’t stop there.

Decide you want to narrow your search down to Laser Eye Surgery, and you still have a myriad of clinics, providers, and hospitals to choose from — all with different treatments and varying levels of expertise and capabilities.

Whereas this is great in terms of choice, it can be a real headache when trying to find out if you’re eligible and what the best treatment is for you.

This is evident in the figures that show some laser eye clinics turn away as many as 20 percent of potential patients due to not having the expertise or technology to treat them, whereas others are able to treat up to 98 percent of anyone who contacts them.

As you can see, in the field of Laser Eye Surgery, where the line in the sand that determines what’s possible and what’s not possible falls is hugely dependent on who you talk to.

At one high street provider, you may be told you’re not eligible for Laser Eye Surgery, only to visit an independent clinic later that day to be informed that you’re an ideal candidate.

This begs the question, then, why is it exactly that some clinics but not others fail to keep up with the latest industry best practices and the curve of innovation, particularly if they’re number one priority is your health?

Usually, it’s not you that’s ineligible, it’s the clinic

In general, there are four types of Laser Eye Surgery patients:

Those that are eligible, those that are temporarily ineligible but will be eligible at a later date, those that are ineligible, at least until the industry progresses further and a small number of patients who are ineligible due to conditions such as Keratoconus.

The main point here is that the likelihood of being ineligible is much smaller than what you may initially think. This is because, although suitability for Laser Eye Surgery does depend on a handful of personal factors — things like your age, prescription, and health conditions like diabetes and arthritis — it’s largely dependent on the clinic and its technology and standards of working.

At the start of it all, we have we the screening program. This is the compass in your journey to greater vision and thus one of the most important stages of Laser Eye Surgery.

As it’s based on technology — like most of the process — the standards of screening can vary greatly between clinics. This means you could go to one that would calibrate your compass with a limited amount of data that may or may not get you where you need to go and go to another that uses precise readings and measurements and sets you on a direct course to your destination.

Another consequence of a clinic’s technology, as well as the expertise of its surgeons, is its range of treatable prescriptions. Using equipment and systems such as the revolutionary Artermis scanner, surgeons can safely treat very high prescriptions that were not too long ago considered impossible.

These are just a few of the clinic-side factors that can influence your suitability for Laser Eye Surgery. So, if you’ve been told you’re not a good candidate by one, it’s always worth getting a second opinion from another.