The LASIK Vision Institute

Overall experience horrible.
Mid 20’s, registered nurse.
First, I’ve never written a bad review in my life, it’s time.
Originally got my first surgery ⁰²⁄₁₅. Consultation was awesome. Very quick, sweet, to the point. Staff awesome. Then as soon as I paid, all DOWN HILL. Day of surgery 10am apt, didn’t have sx until 1230, didn’t walk out of building until 4pm. Music that was played was so edgy and loud it made me edgy and even more nervous. Dr. January has been doing this for years and I understand that this is second nature to him now but he was too rough and rapid with my eyes. I was squeezing the bed so hard my knuckles were white. I asked him to give me a second before he started on second eye and when the operating team asked what was going on, he laughed and yelled «she’s freaking out». Heck I’m not used to someone performing surgery on my eyes, sorry! I wish they would have offered to give me something to make me more calm. Was in pain after surgery, so I had to go back for numbing drops and the nurse who was in the operating room lectured me like a child, «you should have been asleep, and you wouldn’t be hurting»
Second surgery, six months later. One of my eyes did not take to the surgery, it’s a risk and I completely understood the risks. Called for check up appointments, phones would go to 800 number and I would leave messages and nobody would return my calls. When finally approved by Dr. To get 2^nd surgery done, it took 4 weeks to reschedule surgery appointment. Nobody would ever call me back after the office told me they would call me to make appointment because they were not sure about Dr. January’s schedule. Second surgery just done 7/​23, contacted Dr. January via cell phone because he gives his card out to surgery patients for any questions or concerns. Sent him pictures of my blood shot swollen eye and pain that I was experiencing. His reply, blurriness is normal, never once did I say I was having blurry vision. He sent text at 0711 saying he would call me shortly, it’s 1146 and still no call.
Went in to office, Dr. January is reported to be in Houston to perform other surgeries. opthamologist checked on my eye and said I have an «abrasion near my cornea that „possibly“ took place during the surgery». well since I don’t hit my eyes or put sharp objects near my eyes I think it’s a for sure thing it happened during procedure!
So guess what I have to come back again. Have had to call into work two days because I can’t even open my eye. Miserable. No numbing drops, Nothing for pain to my eye. And guess what no call from surgeron.
Wish I wouldn’t have looked for «better deal» for eye surgery, I guess you get what you pay for.

Wow I never imagined I’d have so much fun during the surgery. I went to a QualSight location here in San Antonio for my surgery. Dr. January was so much fun and I loved the casual atmosphere with the funloving staff members. A few times I think he had to pause because I couldn’t stifle some laughter, good times! Like others have explained he plays music in there and has a collection of plush toys to keep that casual atmosphere. In all honesty if I had the extra money to do it again I would just for the fun experience!
My follow up visits have been with Dr. Peters who I also really enjoyed working with. He’s a bit more formal /​softspoken but a very sweet fellow. In fact the night after my surgery I started feeling some pain on my eye that got me pretty worked up. Dr. Peters met me at their office in the middle of the night. (somewhere around midnight /​1am) The pain went away right as I got there… Makes sense that would happen ha! Nonetheless he took the time to examine my eyes. It was just the dryness of the eyelid, I hadn’t used the eyedrops as much as I should have to help the healing process.
Yes they are quite busy there. Duh! They’re less expensive than many of the other places! I went on a Saturday so I figured it would be busy anyways. I think they did a very good job with crowd control and keeping everything moving smoothly. I’m a fairly easy going guy, not very snobbish so this part of the atmosphere didn’t bother me at all. *just a little jab at the negative reviews here* :p
In closing, I have to give a big thanks to these doctors for their hard work and most of all their wonderful personalities!

I had my Lasik surgery done approximately one year ago and I am not pleased with the results. They lure you in with a low ball offer of $ 299.00 dollars which I am willing to bet no one actually qualifies for and then try to convince you to pay $ 3000.00 to $ 3500.00. In my case I never called back to schedule my surgery so they eventually called me back and offered to drop the price to $ 1800.00 dollars after playing the let me talk it over with the office manager routine, reminding me of buying a car. The wait time for surgery was longer than expected and I had to get a hotel room so I could make my day after surgery appointment the following morning. The surgery itself only takes about 15 minutes but you have to wait in a ice cold room for a long time listening to heavy metal music blaring loudly. After the surgery my eyes never seemed to achieve the promised results for distance vision. I still cant read street signs well until I get right up on them. My reading capabilities actually got worse after the surgery. I advised them of these facts at each scheduled follow up meeting but they would tell me that my vision would continue to improve with time, which it did not. At my final checkup I told them I was not satisfied with the results and was told I could pay another $ 1369.00 to correct the situation which I feel they should have stood by their original deal and done at no charge. After my experience at Lasik Institute I would not recommend their services.

I had my surgery June of 2014 and my vision is holding up well.
Vision Institute makes its money by turning out as many patients as they can. I knew that. I didn’t expect the doctor to spend a lot of time with me.
What the doctor couldn’t do, the staff more than made up for in terms of care. I was impressed by the laser and technique they used as well as Dr. January’s credentials.
The price was also very reasonable. There was a little bit of a wait time, but I had my exam and procedure all done in one day. So I really wasn’t surprised by that.
The surgery was a little scary. The one thing I didn’t like was the loud music in the laser room and Dr. January singing along as he was working on my eyes, but I thought, «Whatever calms him down.»
I do wish they would’ve given me a Valium to calm my nerves and take the edge off the procedure. It has been three months after my surgery and I am more than happy with the results. I’m seeing better than I have ever seen before and I wish I would’ve done it sooner.
About me: I am a 49 year old male who had worn mono-​vision contacts for two years. I had them do my lasik with mono-​vision adjusting my dominant eye for vision and my other eye for reading. It’s amazing how the mind processes and makes all that works. It really works great for me.

I would recommend the Austin location if you can swing it. It’s not as crowded so you don’t wait for hours. In the end, my vision is great though.

I had an amazing experience, all of the staff is very helpful and Iformative. From the first day I went in till now. Dr January is very detailed and funny. He even puts music on to ease the situation. Had my eyes done in May 2014 I’m seeing 20/​15, and could not be happier with where I went to how I was treated as a paitent. I highly recommend The vision institute & Dr January and staff!

LOVE LOVE LOVE LVI! I went in for an evaluation on last Friday, I showed up late to the appointment because of traffic. When I called to say I would be late they were very understanding and polite on the phone. And when I walked in the door it was the same inside. I was met at the door by a VERY nice girl. Sat in the waiting room where they had ice cold water and coffee to drink. The nurses that called me back were all EXTRAORDINARILY nice! Everyone was smiling and friendly and answered any questions I had! They made sure j knew EXACTLY what was going to happen during the surgery and EXACTLY how much I was going to spend on the surgery. Just customer service alone it was AMAZING!
At the evaluation they ran extensive tests and took in depth maps of my eyes. I made an appointment to come back the following Thursday (yesterday), I was sent home with an easy to follow guideline on pre-​op instructions and how to be best prepared for the surgery, when I arrived on the day of the surgery they took more test to make sure nothing had changed. I met with the surgeon Dr. January. HE WAS AMAZING!!! He was very polite as well as the entire surgery room staff. The music was playing people were joking and laughing and telling jokes. And made me feel very at home despite how nervous I was. The nurse at the operating table gave me a VERY detailed run down an what to do and not to do during surgery, what to expect and told me EXACTLY what was going to happen. Even during the surgery they were AWESOME! Dr. January came back into my room and gave me his office and cell number if I have problems. When I went in yesterday my vision was ²⁰⁄₄₀₀ today I read ²⁰⁄₁₅! My entire life is forever changed. PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT FROM BEGINNING TO END!

I think this place should be avoided at all costs.
People flock to this place because it’s cheaper than other places offering Lasik. That, and the fact that a friend had a positive experience here, drew me to this place. My experience there was very negative, though.
I went for the initial appointments and everything was fine. The office is designed to run at HIGH volume so it’s sometimes confusing because of how many other patients are there. Dr. January doesn’t reside in San Antonio always. He flies between San Antonio and another city weekly and does the procedure only on certain days in S.A.
During the initial visit, tests were done and finances taken care of. We agreed I’d come back on a day 2 weeks later.
The actual procedure is performed at this office in such an unprofessional manner that it shocked me. They call patients into a small room 5 at a time so that Dr. January (this is the first time you meet the guy) can go over what exactly he’s going to do to you. He speaks rapid-​fire and gives a brief synopsis of the procedure that he’s probably done a million times. This part adds to the confusion of the whole event.
When you name is called, you are led into the very cold surgery room. Music is playing like it’s the den from «Silence of the Lambs.» Orders are given to you from an assistant or the doctor but you have trouble hearing them. A suction cup is placed on your eye to hold it in place so that they can cut your cornea before moving on to the laser. In my case, the suction cup slipped off. The cut was therefore made in the wrong place. I couldn’t hear what they were saying due to the music but it was clear something was wrong. It was scary.
I was led out of the office and told that they couldn’t complete the procedure with me that day because of the cut being in the wrong place and that I’d need to go through the healing process completely and then come back later. I told Dr. January that my initial thoughts are that I just want to say «nevermind to the whole thing.» He let me know that he thought that was a «wimpy» way to go about it.
At that point, I had decided there was NO WAY I’d be coming back to that office. I had them refund me the cost of the procedure and reimburse me for all medicines I had to buy. The office manager was incredibly nice but this reimbursement took months.
I know it’s nice to save money. Spend the extra money and go with a reputable place who will explain the procedure and do it professionally. Your eyes will be thankful.

I was pretty skeptical about this place due to them only having 2 reviews. I went ahead and went for a consultation and they tried to schedule me for surgery 2 days later. I decided to think on it and after searching the Internet and finding reviews on the doctor who would be performing the surgery I decided to go with it.
Like Leti said, they were moving people in and out like an assembly line. There were 4 people ahead of me and all went super quickly. Dr. January came in after every patient and was very personable. He made sure we were all comfortable and aware of what was about to happen. They were blasting music in the OR and the doc & nurses made the experience a lot less stressful. The surgery lasted about 15 minutes and they have you sit for about 30 before they come check on you and let you go.
I had the surgery 2.5 months ago and it has been great since! I’d highly recommend this place to anyone thinking about Lasik.

I wish I could say that I had an awesome experience, but I can honestly say that I wish I’d never had the procedure done. I was a little apprehensive, but after talking with the staff and hearing what a positive experience my friend had with this place, I decided to go for it. I was happy with the ease of scheduling my appointment. Although, the day of surgery, I was really suprised at how long the wait was. The other people there were in good spirits and pretty talkative so it wasn’t a deal breaker, but there was one guy who almost walked out because of it. All things said, I finally got called back about four hours after my scheduled appointment time. As I went into the room, I was told to lay down in between the assistants’ conversation. Drops were immediately put in my eyes and I started feeling really anxious. I tried my best to calm down and I had a really hard time controlling my eyes with all of the retraction tools, drops, and suctions being used. I could tell I wasn’t going to win any patient of the day awards. Afterwards, I felt better. My vision was a little blurry at first but I was excited for what was to come. At my follow up, it was determined that I had ²⁰⁄₂₀ vision. What a cool feeling! I had a big red mark on one of my eyes from the suction, but it went away after about two weeks. My night vision was terrible, but I figured it’d get better. I kept up with my drops as much as I could and followed my post op instructions. I had no idea what a headache the eye drop schedule would be! Every 30 minutes? Like, I said, I did my best. Most of the time, I managed to get it done. But, after month, there were no instructions on eye drop frequency and I figured it was time to weane myself off of the drops! But, my eyesight started back tracking. My night vision never got better. Lights were so starbursted and haloed. Store lighting makes me have to squint. I can’t read street signs well when driving. I was frustrated. I called and asked about it. I was told that i wasn’t supposed to stop the drops and needed to come in. So, I did and they said my eye sight HAD worsened and I would need to start the healing process ALL OVER AGAIN. It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but if it was gonna fix things, I decided to suck it up. Things didn’t get any better. The next time I went in, my eyesight had gotten even worse, but I had just found out that I was newly pregnant. I was told BY THE DOCTOR that they could do an «enhancement» (a do-​over) at no charge to me. I really didn’t want to do it all over again, but I wanted to get it out of the way pre– baby. As I was talking to the girls up front about it, they informed my that Dr. January would NOT operate on me if I were pregnant and I would have to wait until three months after the baby. To say I’m frustrated is an understatement. My eyesight is still getting worse and with all of the money I’ve spent on the procedure, drops, and time off of work, the last thing I want to do is go spend a few hundred or more on glasses that may not work in a few months. Atleast with glasses, I could put them on and forget about them until it was time to go to bed. Now, these stupid eye drops rule my life and not being able to see is not only annoying but becoming dangerous when it comes to driving and sucking the fun out of things like shoppong or just watching tv. I really wish I would have never had this done.

I went in for a free evaluation today after seeing the signs and hearing ads on the radio that lasik eye surgery starts at $ 299 per eye. I was shocked to find out that their basic surgery starts at $ 3000 and goes to $ 4500. What a piece of crap to openly lie to consumers just to get them in the door and suck them into a fiancé contract.

This is a long review so for those that don’t care to read it just know that I am completely happy with this place and don’t regret going here for a moment…
Well at first I was really scared to try this place out because it hadn’t been reviewed yet and wasn’t even on Unilocal,but I decided to do a consultation anyway. At the consultation I thought they explained everything very well and were very professional. Turns out this doctor is the only one doing the lasik at this location and also at houston and another place so he’s had plenty experience. After the consultation I felt pretty confident in their ability so I decided to go ahead and do the lasik all in the same day. They use Care Credit for financing if you don’t have the money to pay upfront and of course you have to qualify but if you do it’s really great! They said price differs for everyone depending on how bad your vision is, my vision was ²⁰⁄₁₀₀ and I only had to pay $ 1800 total for both eyes!!! Every other place I had researched was double that if not more so that made me happy.
Now about the actual surgery…
On the day I went they were moving people in and out of surgery like an assembly line, the procedure only takes about 10 min tops! While waiting next to the procedure room I was nervous because I could hear the doctor playing loud music while he was working which I assume is there so you don’t have to hear the laser. While in the procedure room I was very scared of course and at times it was slightly painful but the pain never lasted very long. Now the one thing that made me nervous is that the doctor was constantly talking to his nurses and singing while doing my surgery. Some people may look at that as a good thing because he seems very confident and then there’s me that was like «Hey buddy, focus, this is my eye we’re dealing with» but once it was done I could tell he knew what he was doing. That day I could already see a little better but it was blurry cuz of the medicine in my eyes. The next day I had a followup appoinment and I could see ²⁰⁄₂₀!!! 2 weeks later I had another followup appointment and I could see 20/​15, that’s better than perfect vision! I am completely happy with my decision and will always tell everyone how great this place is.
Btw, I had my surgery Feb. 19^th in case you’re wondering.