Minnesota Eye Consultants

This is a horrible place. They stack patients and keep people waiting for hours. My husband had a 10:00 am appointment today. After 2 hours and 40 minutes, he saw the doctor. Afterwards, he was kept waiting yet again to see a «scheduler» to set up his surgery appointment. We finally got out of there after 3 ½ hours.

Very good outcome, for which I’m grateful. Highly competent personnel from top to bottom. Very well equipped and thorough in preop evaluations and follow up. The doctor is thoughtful and skilled — based on my experience and the extensive experiences of a friend. The optometrist was excellent and knowledgable.
They could consider streamlining their communications and check in procedures, increasing the size of their often full waiting rooms, and telling frontline people to keep patients informed about wait times. I would give 4.5 stars if possible.

If you’ve thought about getting LASIK… do it! I have worn glasses since I was in second grade and contacts since 7^th grade. My eyesight was terrible (–7 in both eyes with some astigmatism). I have always dreamt about what it would be like to get up and see – no reaching for glasses or running to the bathroom to put in contacts.
I bit the bullet and decided to do this last November. Consultation is free. I saw Dr. Elizabath Davis and thought she was great. They have a 24 hour number you can call in case of emergencies or if you have questions – which I did and felt much better after talking to the doc at 11pm on Saturday night. If you are considering LASIK, get answers from trained pros… in the meantime here is some info from my experience.
I wasn’t a candidate for LASIK (the kind where they cut a flap in your cornea, peel it back, laser, replace flap, and you can see perfectly in 24 hours). My procedure was called PRK. In this one, they scrape off the top layer of corneal skin, then laser your eye. They tell you everyone’s recovery time and discomfort level varies. I will tell you the procedure didn’t hurt a bit and lasts maybe 5 minutes from when you sit in the chair to when you walk back out to your car (the worst part was when they laser your eye it smells like burning hair). I was pretty uncomfortable for 2 days – like the burning itchy feeling of having shampoo and sand in your eyes – this is when the layer of cornea they scraped off is regrowing and is the most painful part of the whole deal. After this, I felt fine but honestly couldn’t see well enough to read, watch TV (listening isn’t quite the same), or drive for another 3 days. I returned to work but found my eyes fatigued pretty quickly looking at a computer screen. It probably took me a good 10 days to really be able to function and see at 100%.
Other considerations – you can’t wear make up for 2 weeks after the surgery, and I had to wear glasses for 2 weeks before my consult and before surgery.
Check with your insurance provider – I have VSP and got a 25% discount (my correction was that bad). You can also do interest free financing and use your HSA or flex spending (tax free dollars) to pay for this procedure.
I wish I would have done it sooner, and I love it so much that I would have paid more for it.