How should I choose a provider for my vision correction

Choosing a Laser Eye Surgery provider

I spend way too much of life making decisions.

Choosing between brands of tinned tomatoes; picking the right hotel to stay in; deciding whether to go through town or take the motorway to try to skip the traffic.

So you can imagine when it comes to a big decision like buying a house or choosing a Laser Eye Surgery provider, things gets a little more complicated.

With the seemingly endless amount of options, offers, types, and prices, how do you even begin to whittle them down and find the one that is right for you?

You don’t want to be the one who snaps up a great offer on a house only to find out it needs a new roof and that it’s actually falling apart. Similarly, you don’t want to be the one who finds a nice deal on a Laser Eye Surgery treatment to discover later that the results are not as good as they advertised.

So what do we do? We first find broad and reliable filters to immediately sift out the bad from the good. There are more things to consider when choosing a provider, but three of the best filters to apply when scouring the Laser Eye Surgery market are Recommendations, Results, and Reputation.

Whenever in doubt about the quality of a clinic, remember the three Rs.

Recommendations

Where better to start than the trusted word of a family doctor or someone you’ve known for a while that has previously had Laser Eye Surgery.

Talking to someone who’s familiar with the industry can save you a load of time and hassle. You’ll gain insight into the process and possibly source a valid recommendation.

Speak with a doctor such as your GP, ophthalmologist, or optometrist, and they will more than likely refer you to a good clinic or a particular ophthalmic surgeon experienced in treating conditions like yours.

Of course, recommendations can be tainted by personal experience and opinion. So use them only as a starting point to finding the right Laser Eye Surgery clinic for you, and make sure to do your research and get second opinions to back them up.

Results

The clearest evidence of a clinic’s performance is its results. Many clinics will publish them openly on their website or otherwise make them available for you to assess. But one must be careful, as sometimes they’re not quite what they seem.

Take for instance the claims of high street providers which make such bold statements: “99% of all patients achieve 20/20 vision”. On the surface, you’d be forgiven for thinking their results are up there with the best in the world.

But whenever you see such a statement you should stop for a second and ask yourself, among other things: how many patients were in the sample? 10, 100, or 10,000? Which treatment are they referring to? What stage of recovery were the post-operative measurements taken?

These tactics are only used by providers who are not confident in publishing their results across the board, and therefore should be approached with extra care.

Reputation

Once upon a time a business’s reputation could be found on the lips of every person in town.

Today in our globalised world we look to the internet to get the gossip. Rather than solely checking out a Laser Eye Surgery provider’s website, you can scour independent review sites like Trustpilot and local or national media for appearances or mentions of their clinic or surgeons.

If a clinic is as good as it says it is, then chances are it’s been recognised externally for it. And with many bloggers and vloggers taking journalism into their own hands, it’s easier than ever to find out about the experiences of past patients.

If you’d like to book a consultation at London Vision Clinic, or find out more about how to choose a Laser Eye Surgery Clinic, leave us a comment or give us a call us on 020 7224 1005.