Ventura County Lasik Blog

General Pterygium May 25, 2016 0 Comments

My Guilty Pleasure: Being a Heretic

I had a weird consultation this week. The case wasn’t weird but the dynamics were. A young person came in for a Pterygium surgery evaluation. He was in his early 20s and was a great candidate for surgery with a significant growth that was plaguing him. He had gone down to Big University eye hospital in Los Angeles the last few years and every time he went in he was told to wait for surgery as his case was high risk. Then he comes to visit little old me in Ventura County and I turned his world upside down when I said he would do great.

He was accompanied by a relative who was clearly stressed out that I would dare contradict the so-called ‘best of the best’ at Big U. The fact that I saw no good reason to make this silently tortured young man wait blew this persons mind. In fact, they were so flustered I was waiting for this person’s head to explode during the visit! They simply refused to believe that better options were available.

General LASIK May 21, 2015 4 Comments

Fear and Finances- Addressing the Obstacles to Laser Vision Correction

Last summer, we embarked on a trial program with the goals of providing great vision at a reasonable price point while reducing the fear that is inherent to eye surgery. Part of my goal was to make eye surgery more accessible to patients in their 20s and 30s as they tend to have nearsighted eyes that respond beautifully to treatment.

Wavefront Lasik surgery typically costs $5,000 and up. It is worth every penny but most people don’t have $5,000 to spend on a luxury surgery. Couple this with the reservations that any sane person would have about having surgery on their otherwise healthy eyes and it is no wonder that only a small percentage of the US population has had Laser Vision Correction.

General Keratoconus December 16, 2013 0 Comments

Keratoconus Is Not Always A Sentence to Blindness

Our website brings inquiries and questions from all over the world. Recently a woman in Florida sent a desperate plea for help. Her husband had been diagnosed with Keratoconus and was told that he would inevitably go blind over time. The poor guy was living his life thinking that nothing could be done and he was destined to a life with a seeing-eye dog and a cane. Meanwhile, he could see well enough to work on a computer at his work, so he still had functional vision.

LASIK October 22, 2013 4 Comments

Laser Eye Surgery Shouldn’t Sacrifice Near Vision Over Distance Vision

Like many Cornea Specialists, I have a thriving general Ophthalmology practice. I am always amazed when I see patients that had Laser Vision Correction done elsewhere when they were over the age of 40 and had both eyes corrected for distance vision only. This effectively wiped out their near vision and made them completely dependent on reading glasses to see up close. They basically traded one shortcoming for another.

General LASIK August 12, 2013 0 Comments

The Secret To Great Laser Vision Correction

Laser Eye Surgery has improved tremendously from the mid-1990s. New generation lasers have improved both the percentage of patients with 20/20 vision after surgery and the quality of vision. The reason behind this has to do with the shape of the cornea (the cornea is the clear front part of the eye which is reshaped by the laser treatment.)

In nature, there are 2 types of cornea shapes, prolate and oblate. Animals with great vision such as eagles and hawks have prolate corneas. Animals with not-so-great vision like frogs have oblate corneas. The human cornea is naturally prolate in shape like that of a hawk, so by nature we have great visual potential.

Research & Publications

My Guilty Pleasure: Being a Heretic

Fear and Finances- Addressing the Obstacles to Laser Vision Correction

Keratoconus Is Not Always A Sentence to Blindness

Laser Eye Surgery Shouldn’t Sacrifice Near Vision Over Distance Vision

The Secret To Great Laser Vision Correction

Research & Publications

How Human Monkeypox Affects the Eyes

How Eye Health Affects Mental Wellbeing

Eating for Eye Health

Voted Best LASIK Surgeon

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Franz Michel, MD