Cost of Vision Surgery
The cost for vision correction surgery varies based on the procedure that is best for your visual needs. Infinity Laser’s prices for laser vision correction are competitively priced and include the surgery and one post-operative care. The laser vision correction staff are able to discuss pricing with candidates. We invite to call at 787.775.2020 and coordinate your appointment for evaluation.
Infinity Laser offer many payment options. We accept cash, VISA, Master Card, Discover and we now have financing available. We are pleased to offer financing through Care Credit, the nation’s leading patient financing program. You may choose the payment plan that best suits your needs, 6 or 12 month payment plan with no interest and $0 down payment or choose one of the extended payment plans which range from 24 to 60 months. We can help you with onsite approval within minutes.
Good candidate for vision correction surgery
Your eye care professional can determine if you are a good candidate for vision correction surgery after a comprehensive examination.
LASIK or other vision correction surgeries can be used to treat nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism and to decrease, if not eliminate, a patient’s dependence on glasses or contact lenses. Patients who have reasonable expectations from the procedure and who understand that any surgical procedure always has certain risks associated with it are the best candidates for the procedure.
Patients may not be candidates if they have certain corneal diseases or collagen vascular diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, or significant problems with wound healing. Individuals who are pregnant or nursing are not candidates momentarily. Lastly, it is important that your refraction or prescription for glasses or contact lenses is stable and not constantly changing.
Although age is not necessarily a factor, patients should be over age 18 and have no ocular or systemic disease that would inhibit healing or adversely affect the surgical outcome.
Good candidates for the procedure include:
Those with stable refractive error (no change in glasses or contact lenses for 1 – 2 years)
Individuals who do not like or cannot tolerate glasses or contact lenses
Individuals involved in sports or jobs where contact lenses or glasses are inconvenient or interference (such as driving, skiing, tennis, runners, etc.)
Anyone interested in pursuing vision correction surgery needs a complete evaluation to determine if they are a good candidate for the procedure. Often at this visit you are given further information about the surgery and have the opportunity to have your questions answered as well as view the facility. Since vision correction surgery is a permanent surgery, it requires careful consideration, understanding, and planning by you and your physician.
Both medical and lifestyle factors should be considered in deciding whether to undergo surgery for laser vision correction.
The primary medical considerations for an individual are:
General health of the patient and their eyes
Amount of correction required
Shape of the individual’s cornea
Corneal thickness
Pupil diameter in the dark
Vision correction safety
Overall, vision correction procedures are very safe, and the vast majority of patients do quite well. There is a small chance of complications during the procedure. Although extremely rare, if any aspect of the procedure is not ideal, the surgery can be aborted and can usually be reattempted several months later. Problems with healing or infection can also arise after surgery, but fortunately these are quite rare and can usually be treated medically. On occasion additional surgery may be necessary.
Risks or complications from refractive surgery
The minimal risks or complications range from residual refractive errors, such as under-correction, to rare complications (occurring less than 0.1 percent of cases), including infection and irregularities in the LASIK treatment. In addition, there is a slight chance of halos or starbursts around lights at night (5 percent), ghost imaging from bright lights (5 percent) and slightly decreased night vision (5 percent).
What to expect during the screening
Infinity Laser & Eye Care Clinic, perform all types of vision correction surgeries with and without lasers available for your convenience.
The LASIK Center staff member completes a comprehensive evaluation that may include the following:
Comprehensive Refraction Examination: A series of visual eye tests to evaluate the amount of refractive error as well as the size of the pupils.
Slit Lamp Evaluation: This examines the cornea and anterior chamber of the eye. The size of the pupil is measured using “pupillometry.”
Orbscan Screening: The Orbscan is an instrument used to measure the thickness and size of the cornea.
Corneal Mapping: Images that compute the anatomy of the eye are captured.
Wavescan Screening: This device measures pupil size and refraction with the aberrometer.
The full evaluation requires that your pupils be dilated with eye drops. This enables us to examine and accurately measure the eye. The drops that are used are longer-lasting than what you may be accustomed to from past visits to the eye doctor. We recommend that you bring a pair of dark sunglasses with you and you may want to have a friend or family member drive you home from the appointment. Bring your glasses and current lens prescription with you as it will be helpful in determining if there appears to be any change in your vision.
After completing the screening process, the patient meets with a physician to review test results, maps, and charts. The doctor evaluates the shape of the patient’s cornea, examines the back of the eye using an indirect lens, and discusses the patient’s ophthalmic history. Finally, the doctor determines if the patient is a candidate for refractive surgery and answers any questions.
If you are interested in laser vision correction surgery, you can be booked at this visit.
Wavefront Guided Custom Excimer Laser Treatment
In addition to fundamental refractive errors such as myopia, the eye can have other complicated optical defects called aberrations. These defects can reduce the quality of vision, especially at night. Using an instrument called an aberrometer, physicians can assess and quantify these aberrations and develop a patient-specific, computer designed excimer laser treatment pattern to guide the laser treatment. The wavefront measurement, described as a “fingerprint of your eye”, captures tiny subtle variations in the way light passes through your eyes. These variations can be as unique as your fingerprints.
This so-called “custom” treatment reduces the postoperative aberrations of the eye and provides better quality of vision than would be generally expected with non-customized treatment. Infinity Laser has the “CustomVue” anti-aberration treatments for myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. In clinical trials, 98% of patients enjoyed 20/20 vision or better and 70% attained an astounding 20/16 or better.
The “Star Wars” laser tracking technology has enabled the excimer laser to maintain proper centration on a patient’s pupil during laser treatment, even if the eye moves during treatment. In addition, technology has been adapted to center and rotate the laser to correctly apply the laser treatment in precisely the desired orientation.
Results
The objective of vision correction procedures is to decrease dependence on glasses and/or contact lenses by improving unaided visual acuity. Vision correction procedures are not precise, and may not result in perfect 20/20 vision; however, the majority of patients are able to function without glasses or contact lenses most of the time. Some people still require glasses to obtain their best vision for driving and/or reading. A few must still wear glasses or contact lenses all the time. *Patients who expect, or require, perfect 20/20 vision should not undergo refractive surgery. *
Much of the visual recovery occurs within the first several days after the procedure and is usually complete by 1-3 months after the procedure. In various studies, more than 95% of patients achieve at least 20/40 or better vision after LASIK. This represents legal driving vision and it is good enough for most sports and activities.
Correction may last indefinitely when vision is stable at the time of the refractive surgery. However, in cases of unstable vision, four to 10 percent of patients may require enhancement (retreatment for under-correction.) Those with severe vision problems may still need to use glasses or contact lenses for some time for reading and/or driving. The less refractive error a patient has, the greater the chance of achieving 20/20 vision after surgery.