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eLearning Series:
Lasik Eye Surgery Questions & Answers
( 50 articles
in this series )
Lasik Patient
Testimonials Are Very Important
"I
have always said that if I were a rich man I would employ
a professional praiser."
-
The wisdom of Osbert Sitwell
Millions of people now consider themselves to be either grateful
recipients or victims of Lasik surgery and many of them, for
a variety of reasons, have either produced testimonials to
laud the procedure or denunciations to criticize it. This is
not a question of who to believe . . . there is no reason to
suspect that either the testimonials or the denunciations are
untrue, and together they give an accurate picture of the Lasik
procedure from the patients point-of-view.
On
the positive side, the testimonials tell the stories of
people who, in some cases, have had vision problems since childhood
and now, thanks to a successful Lasik procedure, have almost
perfect vision. On the negative side, criticisms of Lasik range
from mild disapproval because of unmet expectations, to angry
denunciations because of serious problems after the Lasik procedure,
to the extreme cases of catastrophic results.
From the point-of-view of the Lasik provider, a patient's
testimonial is invaluable evidence that they have not only
improved the vision of that patient, they have improved the
patients life to the extent that the patient has now, willingly,
become a spokesman.
From
your point of view, as a potential Lasik consumer, the
testimonials and condemnations both need to be considered
and
taken at face value. These, in a very real sense, are not the
praises or critiques of individuals as much as they are 'The
History of Lasik.'
It is because of some quirk of human nature that we are more
fascinated by tragedy than we are by triumph and, consequently,
tend to give more weight to criticism than we do to praise.
We, too often, assume the negative is true and the positive
is just hype. The news media certainly understands this quirk
and they are quick to produce stories of tragic occurrences
and tell tales of defeat and disaster while holding the positive
stories for a 'slow news day.' They understand that sad and
negative news will hold our attention and motivate us to action
while the happy, positive stories will soon be forgotten.
So it is with the testimonials and denunciations of Lasik:
The following is a testimonial excerpt from the Diary of a
Lasik patient, found at Ienhance.com
(http://www.ienhance.com/community/diary.asp?diaryid=28):
"Let
me tell you though, the best part of my day? The one thing
that I will never forget? I heard
my wife’s car in
the driveway as she drove up to pick me up, and then something
wonderful happened. When the door opened, my wife walked in
and I could see her! No glasses, no squinting… my beautiful
wife. I could see her smiling face, her beautiful eyes... the
love of my life. I don't think she realizes how much I have
wanted to do this Laser surgery. I love her with all my heart.
She is so beautiful. I am so happy she was one of the beautiful
things I was able to see on the first day with my new eyes.
I drove us home that evening... without glasses. "
That's so vivid and inspiring it could bring tears to the
eyes of the unjaded reader.
Now this excerpt from a much less positive point-of-view,
found at the SurgicalEyes site on their bulletin board: http://surgicaleyes.infopop.cc/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/6541031211/m/3296066494
"I
had lasik surgery on July 20, 2000. with enhancement October
26, 2000. Not a day goes by that
I don’t blame myself
for the temporary insanity I must have experienced when I decided
to go ahead with the surgery. At all other times I am very
cautious about my health, eat right, don’t take medications
and I exercise regularly. How could I have done this to myself?
I trusted the surgeon to give me the facts, all the facts,
and he didn’t, in fact, he lied by omission."
"The complications I’m living with today: induced astigmatism
in my left eye, starbursts, 1¾ lights, unpredictable
fluctuation vision, dry eyes, foreign body sensation, floaters
in both eyes (which I only very seldom experienced in my right
eye before surgery), eye pain, eyes tiring easily when reading
and working on the computer, right eye constantly shadowing
(I have to turn my head to make the shadows go away). I had
none of these symptoms before surgery."
Actually this story of a Lasik failure and a bad doctor may
not be as emotionally moving as the previous testimonial but
this excerpt induces another, stronger emotion: fear.
Testimonials are important but so is the contradictory evidence,
and only when considered together can you learn the whole story.
# # # # #
SolveYourProblem.com
: 2006
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