I’ve just got back from an appointment to find out if laser eye surgery would work for me so I thought I’d tell you all about it.
Spoiler Alert: I’m not a happy bunny right now! 🐰
About six months ago I had an eye test because I was aware that my long-distance vision wasn’t as good as it used to be and I wasn’t surprised to find out that I needed glasses to put that right. I don’t have to wear them often but I’ve always had such good vision that it frustrates me a little even to need them a little bit. (Irrational, I know)
I started to do some research into laser eye surgery and came across one of the big opticians’ website. I’ll not name them specifically as I’m not all about naming and shaming but basically this company advertises costs for the surgery starting from £595 per eye and it got me thinking that this could be an option so I decided to investigate and find out (a) whether laser eye surgery would work for me and (b) whether the starting price of £595 would actually be what I would pay.
I could see on the website that there were different options available with different prices depending on what was needed but I had no clue so thought it wouldn’t hurt to chat it through with them and see what my options were so I requested a callback.
I got my call and had a lovely chat with the lady, explaining my prescription and the circumstances around when I need to wear my glasses. We discussed that I was good with looking at things close up and even middle distances and that it was literally just longer distances. She said that it sounded like I was a prime candidate and that I’d need to get some tests done and speak to the optician directly but that it sounded like I should be good to go.
I remember very clearly asking if the £595 per eye price was a realistic expectation and she said she couldn’t guarantee it but that the majority of people fell into that category so she thought I’d be OK. Knowing that was as close to reassurance that I was going to get without actually speaking to the optician himself, I made my appointment.
I headed to my appointment and was escorted into a room with the receptionist where I was asked a good 15 minutes worth of questions which genuinely included ‘On a scale of 1-10, how easygoing are you?’ along with lots of other questions around my mood, my level of participation in sports and a couple about my actual eyes. The last question was ‘what do you expect to get out of your laser eye surgery?’ which I kind of thought was obvious! 😂
I then had all of the usual eye tests and 45 minutes after my appointment started with the initial interrogation interview, I was finally given an audience with the optician.
He started by repeating about 75% of the questions that I’d already been asked and I did joke that I’d already answered them but he said he had to ask again as not everyone will have answered them fully to the receptionist as they preferred to talk to the optician himself. What?!?!?
Then he hit me with the first blow – I absolutely could have the laser eye surgery advertised at the £595 price but that if he fixed my long-distance sight then I’d need glasses for reading. I said I was a bit disappointed that the lady on the phone hadn’t told me that as it seemed like something she should have told me about but he said the people who make the appointments aren’t trained which I get but this does seem like a basic bit of information that people should be made aware of.
Next came the second blow although this was disguised as good news with the poor optician looking genuinely pleased that he had such a great alternative available. He said that even though I wasn’t good to go with normal laser eye surgery, he did have a suggestion that would work for me.
He told me that I could have full lens replacement surgery which would fix all my problems and after he explained how amazing the surgery was, I was sold and almost ready to sign up. He paused after going into full-on sales mode and asked if I had any questions to which I went with ‘That sounds fab, how much does that cost?’
I can’t actually tell you his exact answer as I stopped listening and went into full-on ‘how quick can I get out of here’ mode when his answer started with seven thousand so he could have said any figure between £7001 and £7999 for all I know. I think I was outside walking back to the car within about two minutes of him quoting that price as I really didn’t want to waste any more of his time.
And that lovely people is why I’m not going to be getting laser eye surgery.
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