I had Lasik at Windsor Laser Eye Institute in 2004. Prior to my surgery, I was fairly nearsighted…read morewith significant astigmatism. I couldn't see well enough to go out without corrective lenses, but my contacts were becoming unbearably painful due to the astigmatism and glasses were a huge pain.
Enter Dr. Tayfour. I went to his clinic for a free initial consult, and learned I was a good candidate for Lasik. I paid a little extra to receive the Wavefront technology, which at the time was very new but said to improve surgery results. One of the factors that gave me confidence in this clinic was that Dr. Tayfour focuses exclusively on performing surgeries, while other professionals in the clinic do most of the exams. The research I found online suggested that the primary factor associated with a positive Lasik outcome is the number of prior surgeries the surgeon has done, with a critical threshhold in the low hundreds. Dr. Tayfour had done several thousand at the time I had my surgery.
The day of the surgery, I had an adverse reaction to the Valium they provide prior to surgery and became quite anxious. I chose to go through with it anyway, so the staff sent an extra nurse into the OR just to hold my hand and soothe me through the surgery.
The surgery itself was . . .weird. Gross. Exactly as it had been described. Not painful, but uncomfortable. And fast.
When it was over, I was given an Ativan and a granola bar. After about an hour and a quick examination, I was sent home with big plastic sunglasses to wear. My eyes hurt horribly, and I couldn't see a thing when I managed to painfully pry my eyelids open. I almost immediately passed out when I got home.
Maybe 6 hours later, I woke up and realized I could sort of blurrily half-see. "Oh crap," I thought, "I've gone blind." Then the morning came, and I opened my eyes to total clarity.
I could see every number on my alarm clock, all the way across the room.
I had some side effects, including eye dryness that lasted about six months and some facial tenderness for about six weeks. Eyedrops took care of the former problem and time the latter. I do see some "starbursts" around lights, which is a common side effect from Lasik, but it's actually an improvement over the haze I would see from my astigmatism before the surgery.
Dr. Tayfour and his clinic provide a few aftercare visits, during which they assess your vision and check that healing is going well. I was very satisfied with this care as well.
The price was excellent--at the time, it was significantly cheaper than a comparable clinic in the US (though still in the thousands). However, the exchange rate at the time also favored the US dollar more than it does today.
In 2010, I had my 5 year well vision check up. I see at 20/15, with no problems reading. I also calculated that I recently began saving money on the whole deal based on projections for what contact lenses, cleansers, glasses, etc. cost.
I couldn't recommend the Windsor Laser Eye Institute or Dr. Tayfour more strongly.
