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eLearning Series:
Lasik Eye Surgery Questions & Answers
( 50 articles
in this series )
Costs Involved
In Lasik Eye Surgery
Understanding the costs involved in Lasik
surgery starts with understanding the procedure, the process
and the cost to the clinic.
Screening
consultation. At the beginning of your involvement
in the Lasik process you will attend a screening consultation
that will determine your suitability for the Lasik procedure.
The Lasik counselor will need to collect all the information
available about your general health, specific health problems,
any prescription medication you are taking and your current
corrective lens prescription. The counselor will discuss your
vision and vision problems with you, based on what can be known
at this point, and tell you if and how Lasik surgery can improve
your vision. If you are a candidate the option of Custom Lasik
will also be presented for your consideration.
If you are not rejected as a bad risk for Lasik surgery for
some medical reason, the standard fees for the different
procedures will be presented to you and payment options will
be discussed. The fee that is quoted may cover all aspects of the procedure,
up to and including follow-up care and enhancements, or it
may be based on a series of “if this, then” conditions. The
fee will probably not cover any optional, “but highly recommended”
procedures such as the optional punctal plug occlusion (plugs
inserted to treat 'dry eye' that block the outflow of tears
through the nasal passage). It may be reasonable to assume
that your health insurance will not help you pay the cost of
Lasik surgery, since most insurance policies look at Lasik
as an elective procedure; it would be wise, however to find
out for sure. If your insurance does offer coverage
for Lasik procedures, you can pursue reimbursement; most Lasik clinics
will give you an itemized cost breakdown for the procedure.
The Lasik clinic will take the position that, even without
insurance coverage, Lasik is a great investment in your personal
well being. Depending on the extent that you “need” Lasik rather
than just want it, that may or may not be true for you. If
money is a major consideration, consider all your options before
committing.
Pre-surgical
evaluation. A one-to-two hour pre-surgical evaluation
is your next step in the Lasik experience. During this evaluation
you will undergo a complete dilated eye exam with refraction.
This exam will allow the surgeon to confirm that your eyes,
aside from known conditions, are healthy and it will determine
the exact degree of your nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism,
or presbyopia. There will also be tests performed to determine
the condition of the cornea.
The
Lasik Procedure. The actual Lasik procedure takes a very
short amount of time (up to thirty-minutes) and consists of
the application of eye drops to numb the eye, cutting a hinged
flap in the cornea with a surgical knife, using an excimer
laser to reshape the inner portion of the cornea (based on
the measurements taken during the pre-surgical evaluation)
and then closing the flap, which now conforms to the reshaped
inner cornea. This is all done on an outpatient basis.
The
follow-up exams. The first follow-up exam should be scheduled
for approximately 24-hours after your procedure. This initial
follow-up is usually followed by at least four more during
the next weeks and months.
Costs. To appreciate the value you receive as compared to
the money you spend for a Lasik procedure, cost should not
be thought of as money out of your pocket as much as it should
be considered reimbursement to the clinic for their expenses.
That's not, perhaps, a conventional way to look at it but it
helps you understand the basis for your cost.
As you can see, the Lasik surgeon and his staff spend a few
hours with you and that accounts for some percentage of your
cost for the procedure -- the clinic, like every business,
has a payroll.
During every step of the procedure supplies were used (masks,
gloves, gauze, etc.) adding some additional cost.
During the pre-surgical evaluation and the Lasik procedure
very sophisticated equipment is used. The clinic is either
making payments on that equipment or making lease payments.
It is also customary (as well as a contractual condition) for
the clinic to pay royalties to the equipment manufacturers
for every use of each machine.
Other factors to consider are the clinic's overhead costs
-- their cost of doing business: salaries, benefits, rent,
office equipment, office administration, advertising, seminars
and the healthy cost of insurance.
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SolveYourProblem.com
: 2006
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