20 Tough Questions To ASK Your Surgeon

 20 TOUGH QUESTIONS TO ASK  

YOUR ORANGE COUNTY LASIK SURGEON

We realize that it is difficult to choose your LASIK surgeon. It may be even harder to determine which LASIK center will offer you the best LASIK technology and results. These are questions that we recommend you ask your LASIK surgeon and center to help you decide which will offer you the best results. We have also provided our answers for the Orange County LASIK Institute in italics.

1. Have you ever been involved in a lawsuit? Have you been sued before? Have you lost a malpractice claim?

Although being sued is not necessarily a sign of negligence, it is important to see if your LASIK surgeon has had a history of lawsuits. Even if your Orange County LASIK surgeon has not had a successful lawsuit, it is important to see if your surgeon has been brought towards litigation. Has the surgeon settled cases or gone to trial? Has your LASIK surgeon ever been sued for improper use of a laser in a class action lawsuit?

Dr. Pham of the Orange County LASIK Institute has not had any medical lawsuits brought towards him ever. He has never settled any cases nor has had any medical cases brought towards him.

2. Have you been sanctioned by the California medical board?

The California medical board is the main regulating body for physicians in California.

Dr. Pham of the Orange County LASIK Institute has never been sanctioned by the California medical board.

 

3. Are your online Orange County LASIK reviews for you and your practice? Are they real? Did you use a search engine optimization company to post your reviews for you?

There may have been businesses that have used generic reviews to help them get a better position in the search engines.

The Orange County LASIK Institute's reviews are from real patients. That is why we have the most LASIK reviews from reputable sites. Hopefully, after your Orange County LASIK procedure you will leave us a kind review.

4. What is your success rate? How many of your patients see 20/20?

Many LASIK Surgeons do not follow up on their results so they may not know their exact success rates. However, this is one of the most important things to ask your surgeon.

We check our results continually. Dr. Pham is involved in all of your postoperative care. This allows him to track his results and monitor his performance.

 

5.  What is your LASIK enhancement rate at your Orange County LASIK center?

An enhancement is an additional procedure that you may need to do after your primary LASIK surgery. The national enhancement rate varies from practice to practice and can be as high as 10%, per previous reports.

Dr. Pham's enhancement rate is currently less than 1%. We believe the combination of our technology and triple checking is the reason we have these low rates.

 

6. What is your enhancement policy?

It is important to see what your Orange County LASIK surgery center's enhancement policy is.

Our enhancement policy states that as long as an enhancement procedure is indicated for a patient and it is safe to perform based on the results of their pre-enhancement testing, we can perform the enhancement surgery. Patient satisfaction with their iLASIK procedure is very important to us. However, safety is the most important determinant of whether or not a patient can have enhancement surgery. It is our ultimate goal to get the surgery for you right the first time. We look forward to answering this question in detail at your visit of our Irvine LASIK location.

 

7. Are you board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology?

The American Board of Ophthalmology is the highest level of certification for an eye surgeon in the United States. It involves testing over a two year process in both written and oral examinations. LASIK surgeons are also required to recertify on a continuing basis.

The Orange County LASIK Institute's surgeon, Dr. Tony Pham is board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology.

 

8. What is your complication rate?

At the Orange County LASIK Institute located in Irvine, we believe that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. We constantly review our protocols, technology and procedures to ensure the safest LASIK procedure that we can. National complication rates can range from 1-3%.

Although there is no surgery with a zero percent complication rate, we strive to keep our our complication rate as low as possible. None of the Orange County LASIK Institute's patients have suffered from a severe infection or have permanently lost vision from their LASIK or PRK procedure. However, any surgery has its potential risks. We will discuss your specific risks and concerns at your free Orange County LASIK Consultation. LASIK is a surgery with risks that are best discussed with a doctor in detail before surgery.

 

9. In the course of a complication, what is your policy?

Dr. Pham has treated complications from other LASIK surgeries. It is important to see what your LASIK surgeon's policy is in the event that you need additional treatment.

The Orange County LASIK Institute's policy is that anything that our LASIK surgeon can do for you personally that is related to your Irvine LASIK surgery will be done free of his surgeon fees. However, any additional treatments or medications that we are not able to provide may have to go through your health insurance carrier or out of pocket.

 

10. Does your surgeon use true custom wavefront technology or "wavefront optimized" technology?

Many Orange County LASIK surgery centers may use wavefront optimized technology that is not a true custom treatment.

The Orange County LASIK Institute uses advanced custom wavefront technology that is a true custom treatment.

 

11. Do you do same day LASIK surgery?

Some Orange County LASIK centers in the past may consider doing same day surgery.

At the Orange County LASIK Institute, we believe that it is best to check your measurements on different dates so we do not do same day surgery. All of our practices are to ensure that we are able to offer you the safest ilASIK procedure possible.

 

12. How long do you recommend that I do not wear contacts prior to my Orange County LASIK surgery?

There is no great research done as to the best amount of time out of contacts before your surgery. We are fairly conservative.

We recommend that you stay approximately one week out of soft contacts, two weeks out of toric soft contacts, and at least three months out of rigid gas permeable (RGP/hard) contact lenses. We also check your prescription over multiple visits to make sure your prescription is free from the influence of your contacts.

 

13. How often do you decline patients for LASIK surgery?

The most important thing about getting LASIK is knowing when you should not get LASIK. The Orange County LASIK Institute pride's itself in it's conservative approach to LASIK surgery.

We are fairly conservative at the Orange County LASIK Institute. We decline many of our patients.

14. Do you have minimum and maximum age ranges for LASIK surgery?

Although the FDA recommends a minimum age of 18, we only do surgery at that early age for members of the military who may need clear vision on their deployments. Otherwise we recommend you reach your twenties and have stable vision.

The Orange County LASIK Institute does not routinely recommend LASIK for patients over 55 because we believe these patients would benefit from the advances in cataract surgery.

 

15. How many LASIK surgeries do you do on average a month?

We would recommend a surgeon with a lot of experience. However, you also want to have surgery with a surgeon who is able to have the time to provide you with personalized care. Surgeons who do over 200-500 surgeries a month may delegate a lot of the pre and postoperative care to others.

On average, Dr. Pham does approximately 80-150 surgeries a month. However, our Orange County LASIK surgeon does surgeries on different days so that he has the ability to spend the necessary time with you. 

 

16. What is the maximum number of surgeries that you do in a day?

We have heard of some LASIK surgeons doing surgery on as many as 50 patients a day.

Dr. Pham limits the number of patients on a surgery day to make sure that he as adequate time to spend with each patient. On a typical surgery full day Dr. Pham will do LASIK surgery for 5-12 patients.

 

17. Have you ever been convicted of a felony?

It is important to know the history of your Orange County LASIK surgeon.

Dr. Pham has never been charged with any criminal charges.

 

18. Have you ever abused any controlled substances?

Dr. Pham has never abused any controlled or uncontrolled substances.

 

19. Have you ever had hospital privileges revoked?

If a surgeon is deemed unfit to operate in a hospital, he or she may have their operating privileges revoked.

Our LASIK surgeon has never had hospital privileges revoked.

 

20. Do you disclose risks of the surgery?

Our LASIK team goes throughout an intensive informed consent process so that you can learn the pros and cons of the procedure.

We understand that it is hard to make a choice as to who would be your personal best LASIK surgeon. At the Orange County LASIK Institute, it is our goal to provide you with information so that you can make an informed decision.

We hope that you will become a member of our patient family and consider LASIK one of the best investments you have made. We look forward to your visit at our Irvine LASIK office.

 

The Orange County LASIK Institute
3500 Barranca Parkway Suite 150
Irvine , CA 92618