Decision is given. She doesn’t want to use contact lenses anymore. So, she’ll get a laser eye surgery.

The decision process of a Lasik patients do have 3 phases.

1- Deciding whether if to have laser eye surgery or not

2- Where&when and by whom to get the treatment

3- Which treatment to have

In this article I will be briefly explaining and giving tips about the second phase. After deciding about the surgery, where&when to have treatment and by whom the treatment will be performed.

Patient would have 3 options for where to get the treatment:

- The local doctor and the clinic

- A well-known clinic in the country where she lives at

- Going abroad for having the Lasik eye surgery

Patients should list down their priorities while deciding about where to get the laser eye surgery. However, on the top of the list: quality&safety must come first. Afterwards, generally the cost of the treatment follows behind. Also, some may add the waiting period, or availability of the doctor during the specific times that the patient is available only.Some risk averse patients may look for a guarantee and follow up options. Another may avoid any hidden costs, or would like to get more while they pay for one, such as combination of two surgeries that will give a better sight or the sight they do desire.

Quality and safety of a Laser Vision Correction Surgery:

Patients considering to of having laser eye surgery never ever underestimate this fact by comparing the clinics&doctors by comparing the prices. Quality&Safety of the treatment comes first. So how can a patient understand about the quality of the treatment?

- Evaluate the clinic&the doctor separately: Get a good doctor from a good clinic. Do not only depend on the reputation of the eye clinic, but also consider the reputation of the doctor. Especially chain clinics which returned the surgery in to a profitable business tend to hire doctors with no name, therefore not asking for high wages. By putting a chief and experienced doctor on their top, they educate them through in time. However, its good on one side, but it’s not good on the other side if you are a part of this education phase.

- Do not pay attention about how shiny the clinic is, but pay attention how good their laser machines are:

You should keep in mind that, shiny furniture, a good architecture of the clinic does not represent the quality of the treatment. It's all marketing. You should ask about the type of the laser machines, when they are upgraded, and if they are properly serviced.Also, and the most important question if whether if the laser machine do have any FDA approval. It’s so sad that, many clinics today, with a very nice design outside, are using laser machines and performing treatment methods that are not approved by FDA. Undergoing surgery in such a clinic simply means, becoming a part of an experiment.

According to Dr.Nusret Bas, who tests the laser machines in Turkey and gives advisory to clinics about which lasik machine should they invest. VISX S-4 lasers are, for us to understand is like Mercedes S series of cars. Good&old and high quality. Also,Wavelight Concerto laser is another excimer laser that Dr.Bas highly recommends. As he explianes, the surgery results at Concerto is perfect. However, due to extreme high costs of Wave-light Concerto Laser machine a very few clinic uses the machine. One of them is in Netherlands, Visus Oogkliniek.

Dr.Bas do not advices Zeiss Mel-80, even he has one in his clinic, he stopped using it just because it uses too much tissue during the surgery.

Intralase Lasik is another laser equipment that is used during laser eye surgeries. It is being used only for cutting the corneal flap. Intralase is a brand that Dr.Bas highly recommends. Unfortunately, there are many brands in the market that does the same procedure with Intralase that do not have FDA approval.

- The Specialization of the Doctor

Not every eye doctor is a Lasik doctor. Prefer doctors who are cataracts and Refractive Surgery Specialist performing Lasik.

- Experience of the Doctor

A clinic nearby you will be close to you. But the surgeon might have 1000 surgery experience. Before you book;

- Ask how many procedure that the doctor has performed

- Complication rate of the surgeon

- Costs:

Laser eye surgery costs varies from country to country. The less the number of the surgery is performed, it is more likely to have higher prices in order for a clinic to cover up to fixed expenses of a Lasik clinic. So, the Lasik clinics in big cities, where the population is higher and the volume of the surgery is also relatively higher the prices tends to reflect the quality of the surgery.

Medical tourism is another option in this case. Since, it offers more qualified surgeries to lower prices by using the location advantage. However, medical tourism operator has to be selected carefully.

- Going abroad for Lasik Eye Surgery

Turkey &Israel are one of the hottest spots of medical tourism. In Turkey, city of Istanbul should be preferred, rather than other cities Izmir, Antalya and Ankara because of the availability.

Another issue is hotel accommodation. Some medical tourism companies are offering accommodation at the hospital. Some are offering accommodation at hotels from 4 stars to 5 stars. Staying in hospital might cost less, however, for a medical tourist tos tay in hospital for no necessary reason is also medically not correct.

Always prefer international medical tourism providers of the country which you prefer to go.