Another complaint is the night vision, especially at bright lights. I drove at night four days after the surgery and there were lots of glare (halos/stars) from the headlights and taillights – like when I get too close to Chrissy and her greasy skin smudges my glasses. But nowadays, the glare has been reduced by 75%. This too should continually improve in the next 6 months.
Last week I went to Daniel for my one week follow-up. He tested me and said I now have 20/15 vision and I can now apply for my pilot's license (no, I don't fly). Then he immediately tried to sell me some $300 Armani sunglasses – haha jk. At the same time I decided to take Dustin in for his first eye exam. Two of his schoolmates already wear glasses, and considering the time he spends in front of the tv, computer, gameboy, etc., I was a little concerned. Surprisingly, he passed the test. He has 20/30 vision, which is actually better than the average 7 year-old. Daniel also says sitting too close to the tv does NOTHING to your vision. There is NO scientific proof that too close or too much tv/computer/videogames leads to any deterioration of vision. None at all. Dr. Dan says, "The only warnings we get is from Chinese moms." So forget buying the big screen tv, just move your couch closer! Wow, what a cost-saver!On the other hand, bad vision is very much hereditary. If both you and your spouse have bad vision, like -6 or worse, sorry, but your kids are screwed! Also, if both of your maternal grandfathers are color blind, all your male children will be color blind too. Yep, it's true.
So how much does Lasik cost?
The one question that EVERYONE wants to know (but sometimes afraid to ask) is the cost. My coworker went through Kaiser last week and paid $4300. I went through VSP and it's $4200. Daniel gave me a $200 discount which lowered it to $4000, payable to the surgeon (Daniel gets his kickbacks later on). Of course I used my favorite Citibank 5% Cashback credit card so immediately I get $200 back. Furthermore, since I knew exactly how much it would cost back in November 2007, I signed up for Flexible Spending through my employer.
Flexible Spending uses pre-tax dollars toward qualified medical and childcare expenses. So if you're in the 25% tax bracket, you're essentially saving 25% off your expenses. You'll get reimbursed immediately and they average out the deduction for the entire year. For us, it would be $153.84 for 26 pay periods. This is even better than interest-free financing! Because of the $2000 max. in flex spending (each company will vary) we split the amount to both Chrissy's and my employer. I faxed in my paperwork on Wednesday and on Saturday I received my check! Woohoo! The beauty is, I still haven't even received my credit card statement yet! So when it's all said and done, it's under $3000. And because of flex spending, you'll hardly miss the money (unless you're living paycheck to paycheck).
My recommendation
Do it... or at the very least, inquire to see if you are a candidate. If you work out the numbers like I did, money should not be an issue, not to mention the money you'll save annually on new glasses and contacts. My previous post may have made it sound more squeamish than it seems, but that's just my perspective. You may be braver than I. You may not even need that teddy bear! Good thing is that over 90% of the patients never require a secondary or touch-up surgery. So chances are, it's a one-time deal. All I know is that my life has improved in so many ways I can't even describe. Just little things like walking in the rain, wrestling with my kids, spying on my neighbors in the middle of the night... I never realized what a hindrance glasses has been to me. Freedom has never been so sweet! Now I just got to look for my binoculars...
No comments:
Post a Comment