EYE CENTER OF TEXAS BLOG

Last Friday, Good Morning America ran a story about LASIK eye correction. At the Eye Center of Texas, we are very proud of our LASIK surgeons, Dr. Edward Wade and Dr. Mark Mayo...and what they have given thousands of patients - great vision! Bad things can happen after surgery. LASIK is no exception. But, LASIK has provided 15 million happy patients and a handful of unhappy ones.

There was a time when the US military and NASA did not allow fighter pilots/astronauts to have LASIK - however that is no longer the case. Here are a couple of facts:

The Navy spends more than $2M training a single pilot. It takes two and a half years to complete flight training. Carrier pilots rely heavily on high quality vision to land aboard the boat at night. Many of them complain when their vision degrades from 20/12 to 20/16. For most of them 20/20 simply isn’t good enough. Yet, the refractive surgery program in the Navy is thriving and well funded, because it works, it’s safe, and profoundly enhances the operational readiness of our military personnel in all warfare communities. If there was a significant problem with the procedure or the outcomes, the pilots themselves would refuse to have it.

Even the ultra-conservative NASA medical department has embraced LASIK technology for the astronaut corps, based largely on 10 years of Navy studies.

Dr. Waxler who was featured in the segment, retired from the FDA 10 years ago – the technology has vastly changed in 10 years and the problems encountered then, by and large, no longer exist.

At the Eye Center of Texas, we offer a FREE LASIK evaluation. These test can take up to 2 hours and will tell us if you are a good candidate for LASIK surgery. LASIK is amazing...but do yourself a favor, don't base your decision on price. Base it on the surgeon...their experience...and the technology they use. For more information about the Eye Center of Texas...call us at 713-395-1515.