I had LASIK from King LASIK in 2015 and waited to see the outcome before I posted this review.
First off, I couldn't be happier about the decision to get LASIK. Life changing. I was so near-sighted, I couldn't read a book as I couldn't get it close enough to my eyes.
King LASIK was much more affordable than other options. My husband had a great King LASIK experience in 2010, which is why I chose them. However, I've been having that "you get what you pay for" feeling. Here's how my experience went:
BEFORE THE SURGERY
First off, the location feels sketchy; it's in an old bank. Secondly, there isn't much in the way of customer service. They rush you through the machines that measure your viability as a LASIK candidate without much explanation. They must do it so often that it makes sense to them (and perhaps it is scientific and super easy to diagnose), but without any explanation or time spent on any one measurement, it felt like a charade.
The doctor's exam felt like she'd never been in the exam room before. There was no where for her to put her tools/eye drops (she set them on a stack of papers). She was very cheerful and answered my questions, but again--when you do it so much, it all feels rehearsed.
THE SURGERY
The procedure itself was successful. They were very kind leading up to it, even letting me squeeze a stuffed animal to help ease me through it. When it was over, I cried--I could see! AMAZING! I hugged the doctor, who really couldn't have cared less (oh well).
IMMEDIATELY AFTER
They sent me home with a bag of information. All of it had spaces set aside for personalization (as in, when my next appointment was, when to take my drops, etc.) yet they had filled none of it out.
AFTERMATH
Here's where they dropped the ball. King LASIK serves a lot of patients and I assume there are some legality issues with being completely transparent with customers regarding side effects and complications. I experienced extreme sensitivity to brightness and blurriness in dim light.
I went in for the required follow-up appointments, and then two additional appointments specifically about the side effects. The doctor wouldn't explain what had caused them. "Sometimes there are side effects and this falls into the realm of normal symptoms." Like a robot. I asked her point blank about her evading my questions. She still didn't answer. She gave me eye drops for the light sensitivity, which eventually went away.
But the blurriness remained.
I'm fairly sure I went in for a 3rd appointment--if not, I scheduled it, but didn't go in. I specifically remember speaking to them on the phone about not wanting to see the same doctor as she refused to answer my questions--I just wanted to know if my eyes were damaged, if this was long term, and what I could do to correct it. They hinted that there would not be any further answers, but I could drive to Vancouver again to likely receive the same foggy answers. They are only open during work hours during the week and I'd already blown too much time going in there, so I canceled my appointment and saw my regular ophthalmologist.
My ophthalmologist told me that the blurriness in dim light was caused by my pupils being larger than normal; so that means they are larger than the scars left from the laser. I'm staring through the scars.
My eyes are totally healthy and it's just---well, it's just what my eyes are like now. I can no longer drive at night in heavy traffic due to massive halos around all the lights. I also cannot see detail in dim light (think checking the price on something in a dark corner of a store). I just got a pair of glasses last week that help significantly with these scenarios (haven't tried driving yet--fingers crossed!).
Honestly, I'm thinking of it as a tax for the convenience of having 20/20 vision in regular light. Had I known this would happen, would I still have had the surgery? Yes. Had they answered me honestly when I asked about it, would I be upset? No. But to this day, I still don't know if they messed up measuring my pupils or if this is just "what happens."
I also find it funny that, following all of my complaints, not once have they reached out to me to see how things went, to see if my side effects improved. The last we spoke, they knew I was upset and not seeing very well and they never contacted me in a personal way. (They did add me to their emailing list, though; ugh.)
REVIEWS
They originally offered an incentive to write reviews but have since stopped this.
UPDATE - 11/25/17:
I spoke with Dr. King and he was very apologetic about how things went after my treatment. He was transparent & offered multiple ways to possibly address the issue. I appreciated his willingness to chat. I'm keeping this review up, tho, as I think it serves as a reminder to customers do due diligence before making such a life-changing decision & to companies to take care of the people who are spending and risking so much by going through with this procedure. read more