This review is going to be long, so here's the TL;DR - I'm blown away by the experience and results I got from Bochner & Dr. Stein and genuinely recommend them. I started out near-sighted with astigmatism. Details are below:
The Initial Thinking:
I like to think I'm a fairly critical thinker and someone who has a decent head on their shoulders when it comes to the expectations of a procedure. I went into this knowing I was only going to do consultations with the biggest names in the business (because discount eye surgery sounds like a freaky idea) and that I'd want to use technology that has a large number of case studies backing it up. After doing some digging I came to the conclusion that LASIK was a good option for me - I had astigmatism and a mild prescription, LASIK has been around for 30+ years with a massive number of use cases, people know how it behaves if you have to have a second or third surgery done, and it doesn't seem to interfere with other eye surgeries. I also saw Herzig for a consultation and they recommended SMILE - which honestly might have been fine, but it's too new and they just don't know how it behaves with, say a further correction, or with cataract surgery, or over extended periods of time.
The Consult:
My consultation went really well with Bochner - they were willing to explain the low-level details to me of exactly how the flap is cut and what layers of the eyeball are involved. For someone like me, knowledge is comfort! I was really grateful they personalized the experience once I made it clear that I was not squeamish and genuinely wanted to know. Big shout-out to Bonnie for that, you put me at ease immediately.
The Appointment:
It was really easy to book and the process seemed fairly straightforward. I actually didn't realize how many people will end up having this surgery in a given day - when I showed up I was amazed at how many folks were in the waiting room. This, to me, is a great sign - at no point in this process had they made me feel rushed out the door (and I ask A LOT OF SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS so honestly that isn't an uncommon experience for me) but at the same time they were performing this surgery all the time. The waver is terrifying because it lists all the known worst-case outcomes with their low rate of occurrence, but after I braved that and sat through the various tests they were doing, it was time for the operation.
The Operation:
I don't want to gross anyone out so I won't go into the low-level here. I'm very personally grateful to the folks who explained this process to me so that I was much less frightened by it than I otherwise might have been. I won't lie - that flap part is stressful to go through, though it seemed to be about 15 seconds per eye total. The actual laser surgery itself was also incredibly short - all in all I think I was in the two different surgical rooms for around 2-3 minutes. As soon as it was done I was already adrenaline crashing and woozy. The body protects what is wounded, and I barely wanted to open my eyes. While I was waiting for my ride to bring the car around, I braved opening my eyes a bit behind the (really ugly haha) sunglasses they provide, and I realized I was blurry, but EQUALLY blurry even at distance. Good news already.
I want to say, I saw Dr. Stein for my procedure, and he was very kind, very patient, and put me very much at ease. Thank you!
The Recovery:
I ended up sleeping most of that day, which I believe is fairly common, and most of the following ones too. I work at a desk job and have abnormally large pupils to begin with (and light sensitivity) so after the surgery this was amped up to unbearable levels. Thankfully I had taken a week off work, so I was able to recover.
Now, 22 days after the surgery, the halos are much smaller than they started with, my light sensitivity is back to my personal usual level, and my vision is above 20-20. I knew going in with my extra-large pupils that I'd likely end up with night haloing for a long time, if not permanently, but this does not bother me as a trade-off for amazing distance vision. I'm actually kicking myself for not doing this sooner.
The Conclusion:
The staff at Bochner have answered my million questions patiently, made me feel very comfortable, and have added a personal touch to the experience despite how many patients they have. Definitely recommended.
A word of caution:
Make sure you know what your risks are for haloing and light sensitivity and determine beforehand if the trade-off is worth it. For me, I knew it would be. If you drive at night constantly, it's worth considering, as it might be more of a negative impact. This has nothing to do with the people performing the procedure and is simply a side-effect of LASIK itself.
Good luck! read more